#love having 2 days off in a row except then i get weird on the 2nd day abt wasting the day/wanting to do everything but not having enough

[staybabblingbaby]

Soulmate Garden AU Ch.2 (Anemone) a2d1

[Caution: These are not full fics, or even full parts of fics for some, these are part of my writing progress archive!]

Concept: Growing up, you knew Soulmates weren't all that they cracked up to be. So when, on your 18th birthday, your skin is painted with a garden of flower buds, you resolve to hide it from everyone. Who had ever heard of someone with 8 soulmates, anyway?

Or; Reader has 8 soulmates and no issue avoiding all of them. It's up to SKZ to show her that while every soulbond might not be made of fairy tales, theirs certainly could be.

Word Count: 4,075

Notes: As promised from the poll! I actually had an old version of Ch.2 laying around :D I don't know that i saved anything from Ch.3 But I'll look. We'll see. Dividers by @saradika

Warnings: She/Her Reader

Leave me comments or questions or anything! Love hearing from folks <3

Masterlist <3 | Main Part

Bangchan clambered into the van behind Felix, Minho and Jisung loading into the row in front of them. It always felt a bit weird to not spend some time swapping seatmates around based on who was clinging to who at the moment, but on days like today it was easier to just board the vehicles as quick as possible. After concerts like this, Chan and his soulmates found it easier to just load up in whatever order they happened to exit the venue in.

Today that meant he was in the second van, as usual, preceded by Minho, Jisung, and Felix.

It was a relatively quiet combination of their soul cluster, and Chan was grateful for it as he settled into his seat with a pained grimace.

He wasn’t sure when it had started, but a persistent on-and-off pain had been roaming around his back for the last twenty minutes as they’d said goodbye to Stays and prepared to leave the venue. He’d be more worried about it except the sharp, needle-like pains would settle into a gentler ache before kicking back up again.

As it was, Chan was pretty sure he’d pinched a nerve or strained something and would simply rest when he got back to the hotel. Maybe call up the PT. For now, as three of his soulmates settled in around him, Chan was content to let things lie.

Well, almost. Another twinge of pain makes him wince as he twists to buckle in, and Chan decides that maybe it’d be a good idea to know what he was working with. For comfort’s sake, if nothing else.

“Felix,” He prods the blond next to him, “Can you look at my back for me? I think I pinched something.” He motions toward his lower back, where the majority of the pain had been accumulating.

Felix immediately nods his acceptance, their group’s resident massage expert always willing to lend a hand. Especially if it let him lay hands on his very well built soulmates.

Chan scooches forward and rotates around, balancing with his hand on the headrest of the seat in front of him. He helps Felix shimmy his shirt upwards, struggling with it where it gets caught in the seat-belt.

It’s there that Chan is stuck struggling on his own as Felix directs his eyes and hands to the afflicted area.

“There’s your first issue,” Felix tuts, “You’ve left your concealment tape on. You’ll give yourself a rash one of these days, hyung.”

Chan gives a sheepish smile from where he’s managed to trap himself in a cloth prison. His head is free, and the shirt his appropriately bunched up over his shoulders and around his neck. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to free his hands, so he’s got a bit of a t-Rex thing going on right now. It’s fine.

“I forget it’s there,” he confesses with a whine, “I can’t see my own back, y’know?”

Felix rolls his eyes at their glorious leader, carefully peeling the thin material away from Chan’s skin as he scolds, “You still need to take it off. We sweat way too much to not at least change it after a performance.”

He’s bunching up the extra-strength tape to maybe toss at Jisung in the front seat (maybe Minho if he’s feeling very brave), when he spots something off.

More than half a decade into having found each other, the members of Stray Kids were intimately familiar with each other’s soulmarks. Every drop of color, every line, every curve. So when Felix looks at the freshly uncovered canvas on Chan’s back, familiar trees, bushes, and rocks painting a forested landscape that describes their impact on their eldest, something new immediately catches his eye.

There, on the fallen log that bridged two banks of a crystal-clear creek, was a moss blanket and a cluster little shelf mushrooms. They added life to the previously defunct object, a little bit of color that couldn’t have been said to be missing until it wasn’t.

The closer Felix looked, the more he saw. A mushroom here, a mossy patch there. Little signs of life and decay that he could have sworn weren’t there the last time he looked.

He looks to Jisung, who’s blissfully unaware. As the first of their cluster to paint Chan’s skin with color, he was the most familiar with their leader’s mark. Jisung had been too young for his own mark to have appeared when he’d met Chan, but that didn’t stop him from influencing their eldest’s. They all knew he’d spent a lot of time studying Chan’s mark (and Changbin’s when it had appeared, already partially colored in) while waiting for his own.

If there was anyone who’d be more than certain of a change in their soulmarks, it’d be Jisung.

Felix swiftly removes his hands from Chan’s back, earning him a little noise of confusion from the prone man, and reaches over to poke Jisung harshly in the side.

Jisung immediately flinches away from the offending fingers with a loud yelp, attracting the attention of Minho, who’d been peacefully scrolling on his phone. Jisung swiftly fixes Felix with an offended glare, ready to retaliate, but is cut off before he can even try.

“Look at Chan’s mark for me.” Felix directs.

“My mark?” Chan echoes, baffled and alarmed. “What’s wrong with my mark?”

“Nothing, hyung,” Felix assures, “I just need to check I’m not seeing things.”

A series of furtive, silent, and, on Felix’s part, urgent, gestures are exchanged before Jisung finally relents and leans around the back of his seat, grabbing Minho’s for balance as the van departs.

Jisung lazily traces his eyes over Chan’s soulmark. All of Stray Kids had huge marks, but Jisung privately thought that Chan had them all beat. His mark spanned his entire back, not an inch untouched by the image. From shoulder to hip was an oil painting of a mark, filled in from what used to be a desolate landscape to what was now a thriving forest.

Jisung used to think it was so overwhelming to be part of such a mark. To be loved so much, and so deeply. It was evident in every brushstroke of the image on Chan’s skin, and in every action of the man himself. These days, he found great comfort in it.

He’d gotten so lost in thought as he studied his soulmate’s mark that Jisung had almost missed what had caught Felix’s attention in the first place. But sure enough, his eyes catch on the same log that Felix’s had.

“Oh.” He whispers to himself. “Oh.” He says again, as Minho shoves his head under Jisung’s arm to look himself.

“No, yeah, that’s different.” He confirms, Minho nodding against him, having already spotted it for himself. The two of them find their eyes glued to tiny mushrooms, only sparing a moment to glance at each other before returning their gaze to Chan’s skin, each with their own racing thoughts.

“I thought so.” Felix nods to himself.

“What?” Chan questions, becoming more alarmed by the second, “What’s going on? What’s happened? What’s wrong with my mark?”

Felix lays his palms flat on Chan’s back and begins to rub gentle, soothing, circles. Any changes to a soulmark were stressful at the best of times, and they all knew how much Chan treasured theirs.

“There’s nothing wrong,” Felix soothes, letting the warmth of Chan’s mark resonating with his touch calm them both as he searches for gentle words.

“It’s just,” He begins hesitantly, “Well, the good news is that you haven’t pinched or strained anything.”

“Good news?” Chan echoes, “Is there bad news?” He lets a nervous giggle fall from his lips even as he relaxes into Felix’s hands.

“Not necessarily?” Felix says uncertainly, “It’s just. Well. Your mark has changed.” He pauses a second and pulls out his phone, quickly snapping a picture and then passing it around so Chan can see. “Something’s been added.”

Felix lets the implication of his words sit untouched in the air as the three of them wait for Chan to process what this means.

Ironically, Chan was the least familiar with his own mark out of all of them. His and Minho’s both resided on their backs so it stood to reason that the two of them didn’t see their marks very often. So it was no surprise that it took Chan several very long moments to spot the tiny changes.

When he does, Chan pulls in a deep, stuttering breath. The pain is already fading out to an ache now that it’s been acknowledged and Chan isn’t sure how he feels about the extra confirmation.

He carefully pulls his shirt back down, breaking his soulmate’s line of sight like they hadn’t already burned the image onto their retinas. He doesn’t remove his eyes from Felix’s phone.

“I...” He trails off, “I have another soulmate?” His voice is filled with wonder as he marvels at the picture of his mark. He looks up at the rest of his soulmates currently in the van with awe. “We have another soulmate?”

“Yeah,” Minho whispers, voice choked with emotion, “Yeah it looks like it.”

Felix doesn’t wait for Chan to fully turn around before he’s pulling their leader into a bone-crushing hug, giddy, disbelieving, laughter spilling out of him even as tears prick at his eyes.

“Oh my god!” Felix celebrates quietly as Chan wiggles to return his hug just as tightly. “Oh my god.” The other man agrees.

Even as his soulmates celebrate around him, each feeling their own storm of emotions, Chan can’t quite grasp the reality of the situation.

Stray Kids was a uniquely large soul cluster. From the beginning, when it had become evident that Hannie wasn’t his only soulmate, it had caused issues. Then came Bin, and the rest had followed like dominos. Each time their circle expanded he’d thought “this has to be it, right?” and each time there was a little voice in the back of his mind saying, “No, not yet.”

The issue was that that feeling, that little voice saying ”not yet”, the knowledge that they weren’t complete, had never gone away. By the time they had all met, none of them could spot anything obviously missing from their marks. All of them were completely colored, images complete, lines drawn. And yet, every one of them felt that hollowness of an incomplete bond.

They’d talked about it a lot. Individually, as a group, in pairs and in quartets and seemingly endless combinations. It was hard, as the years went by, to ignore that nagging feeling.

Chan would always remember Jeongin crawling into his bed in the middle of the night, crying and apologizing for not being enough. Could never forget taking Jisung to a rage room so they could both break down their feelings or drinking with Changbin and wondering if it was wrong for them to be so greedy as to want more when they already had so much.

After so many years, they’d begun to wonder themselves if they were just broken. If they didn’t have another soulmate out there after all, and it was all in their heads.

It had been hard. It was hard.

And now that little blank space in his soul was painted with someone else’s colors and Chan felt whole in a way he wasn’t sure he’d ever experience.

It kind of made him want to cry.

He wanted to cry even more when Felix innocently asks, “So what were they like?” An unmatched eagerness in his eyes as Chan pulled away.

That one guileless question triggers a realization in Chan that has his groaning in despair and slumping forward back onto Felix’s shoulder.

“I don’t know.” Chan mumbles into the shoulder of the slighter man.

“What was that?” Jisung questions from where he and Minho were still turned toward him, obviously as curious as Felix.

“I said I don’t know!” Chan wails, wilting further into Felix’s frame.

“How do you not know?” Minho questions incredulously. Felix gasps as he connects dots he’d been too excited to before.

“I didn’t even know my mark had changed before now,” Chan explains miserably, “I don’t even know exactly when the pain started.”

Jisung sucks in a hiss of air, sympathy splashed across his face. “Oh geeze,” he breathes out, “How many people have we met today alone?”

“Ok, well,” Felix interjects, “Not ideal, but we’ll figure it out!” He reassures, “We don’t have anymore shows after this, and we have some days of break time, right?”

“Right,” Chan confirms, “We have tomorrow off and then we’re returning to Seoul to start working on the next album.”+

“But officially,” Felix hedges, “We have, like, an entire week off, don’t we?”

“Not quite, but sure,” Chan hesitantly agrees.

“Well, we know they were in town for the concert at least,” Felix continues, “So as long as they didn’t leave the city immediately after, I mean, there's seven more first contacts to go, right?”

“Are you saying we should spend our break wandering around trying for first contacts?” Jisung asks, “Because I’m all for searching for them, but I don’t know that aimless wandering is gonna help.”

Chan holds up his hands to halt that conversation before it could devolve into a bigger debate.

“Let’s shelve that for now, and meet up with the others at the hotel,” He suggests, “We should discuss this as a group anyways.”

He receives a variety of agreements and the four of them settle in for the short remaining drive back to their hotel. He absently hands Felix’s phone back to him and retrieves his own from his pocket to ask the others to meet them in his room.

Chan looks out the window, post-concert fatigue all but a memory. As the buildings pass by, he can’t help but hope that their mystery soulmate was looking for them too.

You reaffirm your decision to never ever meet your soulmates as Taylor loads you into the car, arm wrapped protectively around your shoulder the whole way.

It was one thing when your stupidly large soul cluster was just an idea. Knowledge you held, but unactionable in any way. It was another when you had evidence in the form of little white flowers burning with warmth on your skin that they were real, physical people.

Even worse when you knew that they were a group of very famous musicians.

You hadn’t actually been sick when you’d texted Taylor, who’d thankfully managed to get all of the autographs he’d wanted before he’d checked his phone to try to find you, but you were getting there. Anxiety had nausea creeping up your throat like molasses.

You’re beyond grateful when your roommate doesn’t question your sudden illness, the both of you well aware that you were hale and hearty when you’d left the house.

Taylor just buckles you in like you’re something precious and fragile and takes the wheel.

The two of you drive in silence the entire way home. It’s not awkward, but you can’t deny the weight of something heavy in the air. The buzz of the concert still lingered between the two of you, and it only made the silence stifling and itchy.

When you pull into your apartment complex neither of you speak for a long moment.

“Sorry for ruining the day.” You murmur to the air in front of you. Taylor just reaches over to pat your thigh and unclip your seatbelt.

“You didn’t ruin anything,” He assures, “Don’t sweat it.” He hesitates a moment.

“I’m not gonna push,” Taylor begins gently, “But you know you can talk to me, right? Whatever happened, I’m not gonna judge. I just wanna be here for you.”

“What makes you think something happened?” You mutter mulishly. Taylor just gives you a look that has you sinking into your seat.

“It’s nothing. I’m just being dramatic.” You admit to him. He bumps your shoulder with his and climbs out of the car.

“It’s not nothing if it makes you feel something.” He tells you as he goes. The two of you walk up to the apartment in silence, contemplative this time.

You think about it as the two of you separate to wash the concert off of yourselves. You think about it as you take turns using the bathroom and as you make dinner side by side. You think about it as you settle in front of the couch at his feet as his hands automatically pull your head to his knees, his fingers digging into your hair just how you like.

Your sister was right, in a way. You’d known Taylor for over a year now, but the two of you didn’t really know much about each other. you really were just roommates.

You didn’t know what his favorite color was. You didn’t know the names of his parents, or if he had any siblings. You barely knew what he did for a living. He’d only ended up your roommate by virtue of you responding to his “roommate wanted” ad with full willingness to be murdered on the spot.

At the same time, the two of you knew everything about each other. You knew how he took his coffee in the morning, that he preferred his eggs dry and over-seasoned. You knew the bands he liked and the games he played. You knew his hobbies better than you knew your own sometimes, and more about his friend’s drama that you ever wanted to.

You knew that he didn’t really get on with his folks, just like you, and that every word you told him in confidence would be clutched tightly all the way to the grave.

“I met my soulmate today.” You confess, your cheek pressed to his knee, half-asleep. The words somehow feel like they were snatched from the darkest depths of your soul as they spill from your lips. You make no move to take them back.

Taylor’s hand, to his credit, only pauses for a moment. He treats your hushed admission like any other comment made while you nod off to dramas the both of you know you only watch for him, resuming the soothing movement of his hand and humming lightly to acknowledge you.

You think it’s that casual treatment that lets you find the courage to continue.

“Well, one of them anyway.” You mumble. Taylor hums his interest, but doesn't take his eyes off of the screen and doesn’t stop petting your hair.

“I don’t want to meet them. There’s so many of them and only one of me. I don’t even know how to love myself, how am I supposed to love eight other people?” Taylor says nothing still, his eyes glued to an episode of a drama you know the two of you have already finished three times over.

“I’m scared I’ll fuck it up. I’m scared they’ll fuck me up.” Your voice cracks as you breathe life into one of your deepest fears. You realize as you say it that you’ve never voiced these thoughts before, even to yourself.

Tears prick at the back of your eyes when you admit, “I’m not ready for them. I don’t think I can be.”

Taylor finally gives in to the seriousness of the conversation and hauls you bodily up onto the couch. You go willingly, but with rag-doll limpness. He rearranges you to his liking and you find yourself in Gossip Position, sitting criss-cross facing him.

“First of all,” He starts in, his usual levity giving way to a seriousness you rarely see from him, “Don’t be mean to my best friend. I’ll hit you.” You ignore his threat in favor of the warm feeling in chest at hearing him call you his best friend.

Take THAT Ma! No friends your glorious behind.

“Secondly, you are literally the most loving person I have ever met in my life. You would fit the entire world in there if you could,” He pokes your chest, right above your heart, for emphasis, “So I’m not that surprised you have more than one soulmate.”

“I have eight though,” You argue, “Isn’t that weird?”

Taylor just shrugs. “I mean, yeah. But weird is basically your brand, so...” He trails off with a teasing smirk.

You shove him a bit in retaliation, but he just grabs your wrists to still you and continues speaking before you can argue.

“I don’t think eight soulmates is enough for you, honestly,” He muses, “I mean it when I say you’re the most loving person I know. I think you’d even try to take care of Danny if he needed you to.” The mention of Taylor’s very creepy second cousin sends a shiver down both of your spines.

The worst part is that you can’t even argue with him.

“But you know, even with eight soulmates, you don’t have to be with them.” Taylor suddenly switches tracks to reassure you, “They’re your soulmates sure, but you’re your own person. They’re for you, it’s not like they are you. You can live without, if you really want to.”

The two of you let that statement settle for a moment. He’s right, you know all too well. Still, the thought leaves a wad of uncomfortable and complicated feelings lodged in your throat.

After a moment’s pause, you break the silence.

“I have too many years of trauma and not enough therapy money to unpack everything I’m feeling right now.”

Taylor cracks first, and giggles come pouring out of the two of you. The joke wasn’t even funny, but you guessed the two of you had been serious for far too long.

Some minutes later, when the giggles finally die down and you return to watching Taylor’s show, you find yourself with your head on his shoulder.

“Whatever you decide, you know I’m here for you, right?” Taylor quietly picks up where the conversation had left off.

“Sure,” you agree, “Like I was there for you when you cried over a boy I told you wasn’t shit.” You completely deserve the elbow to the side you receive for that comment.

“Shut up, I’m being cheesy!” Taylor scolds with a laugh.

“I’m lactose intolerant!” You complain, but obligingly fall silent.

“Seriously,” Taylor insists, “I’ll be here every step of the way. Whatever you need.”

You wrap your arms around the one of his that you’re leaning on and give a gentle squeeze to show your appreciation. “Thanks Tay.” you murmur.

“Of course. You got me front row tickets to a SKZ concert, we’re ride or die whether you like it for not!” You poke his side to scold him for not being serious after just insisting that you be, but end up having to fight for your life when he immediately retaliates by trying to tickle you.

It takes the two of you quite a while to calm down again, Taylor smug in his victory. He holds your ankles in his lap like trophies of war as you stare at the ceiling. The quiet creeps back in quickly, so you speak.

“I’m just not sure what I want, I think.” You tell him, “I don’t want to meet them. But at the same time, I really do, y’know?”

Taylor nods, “Just let the universe do its thing.” he suggests, “If you’re meant to meet them now, you’ll meet them regardless of what you want. But after you meet them, it’s all up to you.”

You nod along, humming your acceptance of his advice. He’s right, again. You can’t really fight fate, even if you desperately want to. But even within that large restraint, you’re a human being with free will. The world is your oyster and all that.

You let your thoughts fade out and just listen to Taylor yap about the drama on the TV as he finally tunes back into it.

It’s nearly dawn when the two of you decide to turn in, post-concert jitters having deserted you and heavy conversations having taken their toll.

“Did you manage to get their name before you bolted?” Taylor asks out of nowhere as you’re walking to your respective rooms. “Your soulmate’s” He clarifies at your confused look.

“Oh, I didn’t need to.” You answer absentmindedly, already opening your door and dreaming of your cozy sheets. “It was Bangchan.”

You close your door on his gawping face, blissfully unaware of the crisis you’d just sent him into.

[heartsoulrocknroll]

Michigan's Adventure Trip Report 6/28/24

My long awaited trip report!!!! Day two of the three-day trip across Ohio, Michigan, and western Pennsylvania. This was a Friday. We got into the park at about 1:30 PM and stayed until about 7:00 PM.

Coaster Rankings and Thoughts

1) Shivering Timbers (x 10 rides, including some light rain rides)

Shivering Timbers, love of my life. I love this ride so much I could legitimately cry. It's already been said by ElToroRyan and friends, but I'll say it again. I know the Voyage was advertised as having the most airtime on any coaster prior to Steel Vengeance's existence, but I think that's complete BS. I love Voyage beyond words, but there is no WAY it has more airtime than this absolute airtime machine. The Voyage has a lot of quick airtime pops, but every single hill on Shivering Timbers delivers fairly strong, sustained negative Gs. The huge outward hills give incredible, sustained floater. The wooden roughness and the way the train kind of bounces as it goes over those huge hills just adds to the duration and intensity of the airtime. The valleys are crazy intense too, between the wooden feel, the way you get slammed back down into the seat after the airtime, and the decently strong positives. The turnaround gives strong laterals, and the drop off the turnaround is one of my favorite moments of the ride, as there is an unbanked left turn into the drop that gives laterals and a great airtime pop at the same time. The return run continues with hill after hill, most of which are smaller hills, giving quicker airtime pops. One of those smaller hills before the camera gives one of the strongest airtime moments on the ride. Then you get hit with some of the strongest, most sustained laterals on any coaster in the world, as you are pinned to the side of the train for several seconds on the awesome, 630 degree helix finale. It can be bumpy as hell, especially in a wheel seat. But it's not an intolerable roughness, just one that gives the ride a ridiculous, out-of-control feel that puts it over the top. I got a few rides with some light rain coming down, and that was truly incredible. I never wanted to stop riding. This ride is severely underrated, and that may just be because it's under-ridden, being so far out of the way of other parks. Please believe me, it is worth the trip, no matter where you are. But if you are already at Cedar Point, that 4.5-hour drive is a no-brainer.

2) Thunderhawk (x 2 rides)

This is my 148th coaster and maybe my 26th? park, and yet this is my first Vekoma SLC. I've heard the moaning and complaining about how bad SLCs are, so I went into this with low expectations, but to be perfectly honest, I thought it was pretty great. It's a super forceful ride. The drop and the crazy first inversion are the best parts of the ride. It's a very forceful and disorienting sequence, and I grayed out there on both my rides. But all the inversions are whippy and intense. I rode in the front and in row 7, and I didn't really get any headbanging in either place. I could see how you might bang your head on the corkscrews at the end if you don't brace properly, but I was able to avoid it.

3) Wolverine Wildcat (x 1 ride)

This ride is in a weird state right now, with three different types of track going on. The first drop with the GCI titan track is obviously smooth but ruins the wood coaster feel. The brief Gravity Group retracked wood section after the first turnaround is great, with a few solid airtime pops. But after that, the ride turns back into a standard Dinn with a little roughness and barely any forces to speak of. I wish they would do the full Gravity Group retrack, because this ride does have potential.

4) Corkscrew (x 1 ride)

This a fun, classic ride. I've come to really enjoy the drops on these old Arrows, and this is no exception, as it gives good air in the back row. I also found it to be a pretty smooth ride through the corkscrews. My only complaint is that it's extremely short.

5) Mad Mouse (x 1 ride)

I was pretty excited for this ride, and it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The laterals are not as strong as they are on the better Mack mice (i.e. Hersheypark Wild Mouse), but there is some sharp ejector on the hills at the end. It's a fun ride. Capacity is a nightmare though, as we waited 35-40 minutes for it on a pretty slow day.

6) Zach's Zoomer (x 1 ride)

This is a CCI!! I love to see it!!! This ride is very fun and kind of wild for a family ride. The single-position bar lets you slide around in the seat with the laterals if you are sitting alone.

Trip Details

We left Cedar Point around 10:00 PM on 6/27 and drove for an hour and a half to a hotel in Holland, OH, then made the remaining three hours and fifteen minutes of the drive to Muskegon the next morning/afternoon on 6/28. We got to Michigan's Adventure around 1:30 PM. Let me tell you, just driving up and seeing Shivering Timbers stretching along the majority of the parking lot is an experience in itself. I was freaking tf out. We got into the park, and went straight to Shivering Timbers for three rides, waiting less than 5-10 minutes for each ride. We then waited about 30 minutes to get one ride on Wolverine Wildcat. I would have liked to ride it again, but they were just running one train, so I couldn't waste the time. We went back to Shivering Timbers for another ride. Then we waited an obscene 40 minutes to get on Mad Mouse, despite there being barely anyone in the park. We got pretzels at Auntie Anne's, then got on Zach's Zoomer pretty quickly for one ride. We walked right into Corkscrew next for one ride. Then we made the trek to the back of the park for Thunderhawk, which was down when we got to it. It was testing, and it was the last credit we needed to get, so we decided to just wait. It opened after about 20 minutes, and we walked right on for two rides. I spent the rest of the day marathoning Shivering Timbers as much as I could before we had to leave. The line got a bit longer later in the day, but I was still able to get six more rides in. I got a ride photo and a shirt, and we headed out around 7:00 PM. I also spent about 20 minutes in the parking lot taking pictures of Shivering Timbers with my camera, because it's just so beautiful. There were lots of seagulls in the parking lot there. After this, we drove three and a half hours back to Toledo to stay in a hotel for the night.

And because people hate on this park way too much, I just wanted to say that I thought it was a nice, charming little park. It's not an ugly blacktop park like SFOG, etc. It's got a pretty lake in the middle, which you can see from several of the rides. And I personally think every coaster there is good. It could definitely use a few more standouts, but it's a solid, serviceable lineup.

[rewordthis]

Without saying ‘I love you’

SouHaru 1507 words Yamazaki Sousuke, Nanase Haruka + SFW

This is for the Day 1: Open-air cinema & language prompt for SouHaru Week 2024.

Super duper late and unedited. SUMiMASEN!!! m(_ _)m

It’s all Rin’s fault.

All—

The foreign language movie that is currently giving him a headache.

The chill that bites in his bones on this early September night.

The rumble of his empty stomach— protesting.

He’s the reason why he’s ended up here.

A nearly empty open air cinema save for the 3 school-kids whispering and giggling on the far back, the elderly couple right in the front rows holding hands and… Haru beside him.

If Sousuke knew that both Rin and Makoto would bail on them like that, he’d never had agreed to this…

Never!

The movie was a two, maybe three, hell, it could have been even more hours long — long — rerelease of an American romance film with cheesy plot and even cheesier character lines that made Sousuke roll his eyes in incredulity whenever he happened to catch some subtitles in between yawns and half dozing in boredom…

This wasn't what he had been promised.

He can perfectly recall Rin saying that they would be seeing a fantasy story, with enough action and interesting messages about the human experience to even keep him awake…

Well, that wasn't how it turned out. Sure, Rin was right about him staying awake, although not entirely...

As autumn slowly creeped its way in, the final days of summer would always be marked with bone-seeping humidity and in combination with the nippy gusts that smacked him in the face, sleeping his boredom away simply wasn’t a viable option.

And he really should have known.

This was Rin we’re talking about, after all…

Rin was supposed to drive to the Training Center Makoto worked to pick him up after his shift, so they could — at last — all meet after two whole months.

Their work and training schedules were keeping them busy and apart — mostly apart — for days or even weeks, without time for even a quick chat over coffee together.

But for all four of them to hang out, now that was the real challenge.

As such, each had even more things they did on their own and the one to always have a new weird hobby to report was none other than Haruka with Rin a close second simply because no one of them could get over that one bungee jumping session he had from over 2 years ago.

Slowly, they all changed into the people they were supposed to be and Sousuke was no exception.

These past few years… Sousuke had calmed down significantly; he had grown more accustomed to having a day completely off from swimming every couple weeks, without feeling anxious that he would lag behind. 

Besides reading new articles about anything related to swimming, new practice techniques and training, he had to also care for his deportment as an athlete. No matter how he ended up with an old publishing of Savoir Vivre and how he actually even opened it up, the one thing he has decided to ignore is anything he read about food. The empty plate of his tonkatsu and even a second one, is nonnegotiable. In all this, he even read a variety of books, just to keep up with the trends Rin would bring up in their conversations.

He found himself enjoying things he cloud never even imagine before, like reading literature or watching wild animal documentaries or go to karaoke; much more, still, when he had someone to call a partner in crime…

So an old movie rerun-screening in one of Tokyo's back alley Theaters with his best friend, chill as it was, was actually something he looked forward to.

That’s why he felt his mood light that evening. And for one other reason, but that isn’t of the time—

And apparently, he wasn't the only one… 

Haru was excited, Sousuke noted when they first met up in front of the Station square; even though he already knew that this was to be expected since he’d be finally in the company of his most treasured friends — so naturally his mood would be lifted — it still surprised him. The one truly odd thing, however was that this small bliss emanating from Haru hadn't wane in the slightest by the time they arrived at the front gate of the Theater.

‘Isn’t Haru like really sour and guarded whenever he has to be alone with him?’

Sousuke was so certain that at some point his moodiness would eventually kick in if it was just the two of them, that he inwardly prayed it wouldn’t take too long for Makoto and Rin to come.

Poor soul; little did he know how this evening would actually play out…

The place in turn, was an old, semi-rundown open-air cinema, that as far as Sousuke could tell from the extreme contrast between the pristine pamphlets and posters and the dusty scratched up and flaked wooden case they rested in, it also hadn't open in quite some time…

If this place was haunted or cursed, he would make Rin spit blood—

He and Haruka exchanged a look in silence then before he asked; “Check what plays?” and Haruka nodding back in affirmation, pivoted towards the case next to the tickets booth with Sousuke following suit.

“Do you have the tickets?” Haru asked and Sousuke patted at his jacket’s chest pocket in response, as they both looked closer to the pinned program on the board; the program was a plain A4 photocopy paper that only listed two hours and the fairs for adults and kids and nothing more. They looked at each other and settled to at least check the film titles; there were 5 different movie posters among which they found a splatter, a Rambo and to their horror a romantic drama— which they decidedly ignored, hopping their tickets weren’t for that one.

Unfortunately for them, they got proven wrong.

The sole movie playing that evening was the Romance one, as the movies were projected on a rotating schedule 2 times a day.

“There is no way he planned it, right?” Haruka said horrified.

 “Knowing Rin— he must have.” Sousuke replied, rubbing at his temple; this was easy to predict and yet…

He never expected to be roped into this chick flic, about how a lover’s longing is so powerful that can bent logic and fate will always unite the unmatched, but only after the deepest, truest, most absolutely embarrassing words have been clearly relayed to the other.

‘See? I did understood what the ‘message’ was!’, he thought angrily. Mentally noting how he should plot a way to take his revenge.

He actually knew why Rin would be setting him up like this, he just didn’t want to acknowledge it.

The whole poetry of the old place— the never changing essence of life and love under the scenic moon glow, the elderly lovey-dovey couple at the front serving as the past, the kids in the back as the future— oh, Sousuke understood the themes and the lessons all too well in this assignment Rin had put out for him.

He had made him learn about this in one of their previous conversations…

‘The language of love, huh?’ he snorted at himself remembering it.

It was as if Rin was urging him: ‘Tell him. Tell him now—’

This was hell… 

Looking up the screen as the words ‘End’ were rolled out and over it the glittering full moon etched in the clear Autumn sky, Sousuke made up his mind…

From the corner of his eye, he looked at the man sitting next to him, that absently gazed as the screen gradually turned completely black and the bulbs on the gravel-covered pathways slowly lit up, again.

God, why? Why—

But for whatever reason, there was one truth and one truth only and this was as good a time to admit it as any, so he resolved to hook his eyes back on the bright moon overhead, his chest swelling with an intake of the chilly night air and his heart chocking momentarily on a throb as he said softly: “Say, Haru..”

“Hm?” Haruka, turned to look at him questioningly, but Sousuke din’t met his gaze. Not yet.

And without missing a beat he said with a sweetness that had never left his lips before; “… the moon is beautiful, ain't it.”

<<月🌕がきれいだよね>>

The look on Haruka’s face, when he finally turned to him, was a mixture of surprise and quizzical incredulity, as if he was asking ‘why are you saying that?’ and of course he would make that face— ‘corny’ was Rin’s job, after all. But Sousuke merely smiled.

Their eyes locking, as they truly saw each-other for the first time in their long acquaintance.

And he may not know how tender he had looked like at that moment, but he saw Haru’s expression shift from one of puzzlement, to realisation, to anxiousness before his gaze finally broke off in a flurry of lashes only to instantly come back again— this time gentle and steady...

“Indeed— so much it hurts…”

_____________________

~*~

A.N.: I can’t believe how many times I had to save this thing in order to have something to post! _(:3 」∠)_ SouHaru save meee!!!

[seedlessmuffins]

hello party people! the stanley cup playoffs start right now, so in an attempt to tempt y’all to watch, i have compiled a list of playoff moments that altered my brain chemistry (as someone who has watched the playoffs every year since 2010)! even if you don’t want to watch hockey, the sport is pretty ridiculous so here is just a small sample of the extent of the craziness!

washington capitals vs. pittsburgh penguins 2009 (round 2 game 2): hockey’s messi and ronaldo, sidney crosby and alex ovechkin put on a show for the washington crowd as they each score hattys in the same game. the capitals would go on to win the game, but the penguins would win the series (and later the cup), but this game has some of the best highlights as the two best players in hockey at their peaks showed off their skills for sexy, sexy hockey! 

chicago blackhawks vs. philadelphia flyers 2010 (round 4 game 6): in overtime of game 6 of the stanley cup finals, a chicago player scored the game winner to win the hawks the cup. the weird part? nobody saw it go in except the player and his teammates. the crowd, flyers, and broadcasters didn’t see it go in. known as the “phantom goal” this goal won the hawks their first cup in almost 50 years.

 vancouver canucks vs. chicago blackhawks 2011 (round 1 game 7): this is the game that made me fall in love with hockey. little 7-year-old me was glued to my television screen all night watching this game. the blackhawks and canucks had matched up in the playoffs for three years in a row, and the blackhawks (at the time the reigning cup champions) had beat the canucks every time. this series had gone the full 7 games, with the canucks winning the first 3 and the blackhawks coming from behind to win the next 3. earlier in game 7, hero alex burrows had opened the scoring then missed a penalty shot. with the game tied at 1, just over 5 minutes into overtime, burrows gets the puck and scores, defeating the blackhawks to send the canucks to the next round. they would go on to lose the cup in the final, but this was the golden generation of canucks games and the vibe in vancouver? unmatched. it gave birth to two of the most iconic radio calls: “they slayed the dragon” by john shorthouse, and “its a wonderful day for an exorcism” from jim hughston. this defined my childhood fr

boston bruins vs. toronto maple leafs 2013 (round 1 game 7): mere weeks after the tragedy at the boston marathon, the bruins were down 4-1 with just over 14 minutes to play in the 3rd period. they were down 4-2 with 9 minutes left. with two goals in 30 seconds, with less than 90 seconds remaining, the bruins tied the game and patrice bergeron won the game for the bruins in overtime. the maple leafs, having blown a 3 goal lead, ended their season. as of right now, they have not won a round of the playoffs since 2004.

tampa bay lightning vs. boston bruins 2018 (round 2 game 4): the playoffs can get quite scrappy! in order to get an advantage over his opponent after a little scrum, noted league rat brad marchand licked a man. yes fully licked. previously in the playoffs he had kissed and licked another man, and this caused the league to outlaw licking. the bruins would go on to lose the series, even though marchand continued his ridiculous antics

vegas golden knights vs. vancouver canucks 2020 (round 2 games 5-7): in 2020, the playoffs were played in a bubble at one arena with no spectators. after game 4, that the knights won, it was discovered that the canucks goalie jacob markstrom had an injury. with the knights leading the series 3-1, the canucks needed to win 3 games in a row to move on to the next round. enter thatcher demko, a rookie goalie who had never played a playoff game before. over games 5, 6 and 7, demko made 123 saves, including a 48 save shutout in game 6, to keep the canucks in until game 7. he stood on his head, he was incredible, and he went over 100 minutes without the knights scoring a goal. unfortunately, with a knights shutout in game 7, the canucks wouldn’t move on, but “bubble demko” would live in infamy as thatcher demko’s intro to playoff hockey. hes my favourite goalie 

pittsburgh penguins vs. new york rangers 2022 (round 1 game 1): as both teams were ready to fight it out in the playoffs, this game was tied at the end of three periods. in the playoffs, overtime lasts 20 minutes with 15 minute breaks between them. in the 3rd period of overtime, and the 6th period of hockey evgeni malkin scored for the penguins after over 90 minutes of hockey. it was midnight at madison square garden. the rangers goalie, igor shesterkin, made 79 saves in the loss, and the penguins goalie louis domingue, who came on in the second overtime to replace an injured casey desmith, went viral for reports that he ate spicy pork and broccoli between periods to keep up his energy. this is one of the longest games in nhl history, and the rangers would go on to win the series in 7 games. 

edmonton oilers vs. calgary flames 2022 (round 2 game 1): the battle of alberta is one of the classic rivalries of the nhl, and the first game of last year’s round 2 delivered. the goalies seemed to be unable to keep the puck out of the net, and flames and oilers fans both watched as the two teams combined for 15 goals, with the flames winning 9-6. the oilers would go on to win the series, but the sloppy, goal-heavy hockey has stuck in my mind ever since last may

these are some of my highlights! i hope you all enjoy the playoffs (because i know i will), and all the beard-growing and towel-twirling that comes along with them. happy stanley cup season everyone!

[twilightknight17]

Last night on P3R: mostly Tartarus, HOW DARE YOU?, and once again a lack of aggressive dialogue options.

I got my shit wrecked in Tartarus, between multiple gatekeepers in a row, and the Monad passage Elizabeth wanted me to explore. The shadow tactics are getting better, and it’s fun having to work around them.

Throwing a Cowardly Maya at me that immediately starts off with Concentrate+Megidolaon is a little much, though.

I got through eventually, though, and got some great rewards!

Hehehe

HEHEHEHEHE

(I’m sorry, I think these outfits are great. XDDDD)

...I’m sorry, what is the CATHEDRAL OF TIME? Can I have a slightly bigger fragment??? Please??? Oh man.

Anyway, summer break is kind of off to a disappointing start, because like… it’s been 2 weeks, and I haven’t gotten to work on any of my links or anything. Yakushima was great, but now I’m at extra track training for this competition that’s coming up.

I mean I guess I’d be happier if there was something more to it than just showing the same scene of us running laps every day for six days or whatever. Or if there was a choice whether to attend or not. But no, I’m just locked into advancing none of my social links except Tanaka.

Every time I talk to this man I want to push him in the fountain. Also, he keeps asking if I remember my promise and haven’t told anyone. Sir, tbh, I don’t even remember what you don’t want me to tell people.

The Dark Hour has begun, and I’m happy to see Pharos again, because obviously, I love hi-- oh. Wait, no, this is Fuuka, calling me to the command room. Never a good sign.

SEES throws on their uniforms and sprints upstairs, and we’ve got a problem!

Hm. A normal shadow? Akihiko’s probably got it, but yeah, weird that this one left Tartarus…

And then Akihiko calls, and we’re off, because the shadow is defeated, Akihiko is fine, but someone is very badly hurt.

HOW DARE YOU HURT KOROMARU?

I knew he was coming to our dorm eventually but I didn’t realize it was because he was hurt that badly!! Literally everyone is upset about this turn of events, Aigis can speak Dog, and we’re using Mitsuru’s influence in the best way possible.

(We couldn’t even cast dia to stabilize him, though??)

The next evening, Mitsuru informs everyone that Koromaru is gonna pull through just fine, and Pharos stops by to give his weekly warning.

Guys, I have a track meet the day after tomorrow, please stop waking me up at midnight. T_T

………no.

You shouldn’t even be drinking coffee, you’re like 10.

So now I’m off to my track meet, and did really good! I kind of wish it had been a longer scene, or a minigame, or something? I dunno. But the wunderkind runner from the other school came to talk to me after, and wants to be friends?

I guess? Is this a new social link? Hm. I guess we’ll see, since I’m free again, but first I’m gonna go rank-up with Maiko.

Maiko is ready to run away from home. She tells me goodbye and not to tell her parents where she went, and then heads off. And after a blip of a time jump, here come her parents! They have no idea why she would have done this! She’s never acted like this before!

Man I really wanted to pick that second one.

And the dad recognizes me. Apparently she’s mentioned that she plays with “Arisato-kun”, a high-schooler, at the playground. Maiko’s mom is appalled, because she didn’t know anything about that. I’m not surprised; do you ask anything about your daughter’s day?

They literally start bickering to the point where it isn’t dialogue boxes, it’s just audio, like background noise. But eventually the dad remembers I’m there and cuts off the mom.

Sir, you’re the ones arguing instead of looking for your kid. You’re lucky I even want to help, after what you did to her!

They ask if I have any ideas where she might be, and I suggest the takoyaki stand. We all go running off, and Maiko is in fact there. She starts crying almost immediately, and is finally able to tell them why she’s so upset.

And her parents actually apologize! They promise to go home and actually talk to her! I’m skeptical because, again, he HIT her, but I’m gonna have to give them the benefit of the doubt, I guess. :/

Two more people have gone missing in Tartarus, and the full moon is in two days, so we’re gonna have to go in and get them. So that’s up next!

[pbandjesse]

Today was a pretty awesome day. Honestly I don't have too many complaints except I was tired and it was hot. A lot of today was great.

I fell asleep really fast last night which was really nice. And I wish I got to sleep longer but I was pretty well rested. But I was very tired when I got up. I woke up at 7:15 and I did not want to get out of bed at all but I knew I had to. Last week Ann had said I didn't have to come this week if it was too hot if I didn't want to but then she texted me yesterday that she wasn't feeling well and that she was wondering if I would take over today and of course I said yes because I care about her and I want to make sure that the market is going well. And so I got up and I got dressed and I wore this jumpsuit which is great except for some reason even though usually women's clothings have fake buttons this one all the buttons down the front are real and it gaps like crazy so 5 seconds before we needed to leave I took the whole thing off and I ran it through the sewing machine. I did not change the thread on the sewing machine so there's just black stitching going down the front now. I'm going to rip it out at some point and put something that matches a little bit better but it has to be sewn down or it would drive me insane. And I really like this jumpsuit so I want to make it work.

I was not in the best place emotionally because I was so tired. But James got us out the door only a few minutes late and we didn't forget anything which was nice. We stopped for breakfast and everyone who was working in the McDonald's was literally a teenager and was so confused at every question and it was a little funny. But we got our food and it was fine even though the hash brown was a weird shape. And then we were at the market.

James helped me set up. It was already very hot and Anne was not feeling great and was going to be leaving by 9:00. But she stayed for setup and everything was going okay. No big disasters. No one being terribly annoying with their vehicles. I got all set up and then I just started knitting.

And I would finish my ball of yarn. I still need six more squares to finish the whole thing. So hopefully I'll have that done tomorrow and then I can start sewing the rows together. And I'm really excited. Just think the gradient looks very cool and I'm excited for this project to be done and to start working on my next one. I have no idea what that next one will be but I'm excited.

And I'm surprised at how good I did today at the market. Because I was not feeling it. I tried my best to stand because I always do better when I stand. I don't know why that is but standing up makes me sell more things. And people were really nice and I had some really nice interactions. A child from last year and the year before, Rosie, who had bought a bear and named it Farmer Bear, came back for the first time this season and I was so excited to see her because she's going to be turning four next month and her mom and her dad and her little brother and it was just so nice to see them. And while she wanted to buy the other bear that matches her farmer bear, except farmer beer has a pink nose and this one has a black nose, mom said no bears this time. Which is understandable. Instead they bought a sticker and she's going to put on her water bottle for her first day of school and I could cry that's so cute.

And I also had that nice family that always comes and buys things from me bring two of my frogs back that needed slight repairs. They tried to pay me for it but it took me literally 2 minutes to resew the legs So I said it's fine and then they bought four stickers anyway. I really appreciate how much they support me and they made my day very bright by telling me how much they love the things I make.

It was very hot though and all of us were suffering. And we decided that we would close the market early at noon. Bob came out and we had a really nice long chat about metal casting and getting sunburns from welding and just he's such a nice guy. I used to be so intimidated by him but I think he's great. Though he did get upset with me later in the day when he found out we were closing early and I didn't tell him. But I thought he was standing right there when we had the conversation so I feel bad. But it's not my fault!

I'm just glad he still was able to come out and get his lunch before everyone closed up.

James did come out to get baked goods with me. I got my peanut butter pie and a caramel brownie which is excellent. And James got a couple donuts and a cheesecake bar and a key lime pie for liter this week. And eventually they would go and buy a burger from the food truck because apparently they promised on Thursday that they would buy lunch there with them today.

And James said it was really good.

One of the other really nice interactions I had was towards the end when a family came by, a white woman and an Indian man, and then all of their parents. And the white woman picked up one of my bears and was gushing about how it reminded her of her and her brother's childhood toy and she loved it so much but she couldn't decide which one was the closest. So I told her go for a walk do the loop come back. And she did and when she came back her mom was with her and she showed her at her mom was like oh my god it does look like your guys's toy, who was named lammy and Barry. And then the husband was like I'll buy it for you and so I was like okay but then all of a sudden his mom throws her credit card at me and she's like I'm going to buy it for my daughter, her daughter-in-law which was so cute. And then the Indian guys dad who had an amazing turban on goes hey you're only supposed to swipe your credit card 30 times a month! And she said more like 30 times a minute lol! And it was so silly. And it was just such a sweet interaction and I just really loved it.

And then I had someone buy three bears from me for their nieces and nephews and that was great. And I was just having such a nice day and people were great and I was very happy even though it was incredibly hot.

The other real problem was that it wasn't super hot in the pavilion. We were getting a really good breeze. It was warm but it wasn't unbearable but as soon as you left the pavilion It was like so hot that I was worried for everyone in the parking lot even though they were under tents. Like it was painful. The wind though was keeping us cool in the pavilion but was also knocking everything over. I kept having to chase papers and then my stuff was going everywhere and I had to put some stuff away because they just would not stay still. And honestly it made me so tired. I was pretty okay until I had to start running around.

So I was really really happy when noon came around. I took my time putting things away. Jose came over and told me I could take peaches because he had a bunch of leftover. And then Helen gave me a bouquet of flowers to say thank you for introducing her to CJ. And it was just so beautiful and everyone was so kind today. Just a lovely group of people.

After I packed up I went inside to sit with James and give them a break so they could run to the bathroom. And I talked to Deborah who I haven't seen in a while and it was nice to see her. And then I decided that everyone was packed up enough outside by 12:30 that I could leave.

I went outside to tell Stanley that I was heading out and told him not to tattle on me that I was leaving a half an hour early and he said he didn't see anything. And then I left. And I was so happy to go home.

On my way home there was so much traffic in the opposite direction on MLK because of the baseball game tonight so I made sure to note that so when I came back for James at 4:00 I would go a different way. And then I saw a guy asking for change and I gave him one of the peaches after asking if he would like one. And he got the biggest smile on his face and he was like Yes I absolutely would love a peach. And it was just very nice and he had such a nice smile. I hope he's doing okay.

I got home and I brought everything inside and I put things in the fridge. I had bought guacamole again and was very excited to eat that later. I cut the bottoms of the flowers and I broke the bouquet in half because we were going to go to Jessie's graduation party tonight and I would give her half the flowers. And then I took a quick shower and changed and got in bed and slept for almost 2 hours.

When I woke up I was so delirious and so sad that I had to get up. I did not want to go to this graduation party I did not want to drive I was so upset but I made promises and so I had to make it happen. And so I went and had some of that guacamole and a little bit of my brownie and then drank a whole lot of water and headed out.

I had to drive through the city and while there was no traffic people were driving so stupid and I had to be so aggressive to deal with them. And I hate being an aggressive driver but I am also very good at it. And so I was trying not to scream at people and swerve my car around other cars but I safely and in one piece made it to the museum before 4:00.

I got James and switch seats so that they could drive and then we went to Jessie's gathering.

The sky looked very dark for having a 0% chance of rain. And almost immediately after we parked the sky opened up and it stormed for about a half an hour very hard. But we were safely inside and honestly it was a really nice little time. We were only there for about an hour But it was really good. When we got there they were just about to do toasts and little speeches for Jessie and the other graduate, Edgar, and it was really nice and everyone was really sweet and just clearly cared about them both so much. And when they asked if anybody else had anything to say if something was on their heart I was like hey I know I don't know any of you and none of you know me but walking in the space just feels like it's filled with so much love and that's just very lovely and I'm glad that all of you are friends and we were all joking for the next hour about how I just wandered and off the street because I didn't know anybody. But it was really cute and I just loved listening to it and honestly because I'm so emotional right now I could have cried a few times because they were being so sweet to each other but it was really nice.

And then somebody brought ice cream so I got to have an ice cream cone and there was watermelon. There was also a feta orzo salad that I was coveting but I did not have any of because I didn't really want to eat any more salty food but I love federal orso salad so I told James that and they said they will make something for me.

And I did get to talk to a couple people and make a couple little friends. And I'm at another non-binary James and had a lovely conversation with them and I got to talk about camp and a couple other like goofy things about kids being super out and LGBTQ friendly and how it's just beautiful to see but also how goofy they are about it and how I had that weird conversation last year where a child told me that a football player at their school was queerbating because they weren't actively out of the closet. And I'm like it was just you can't queer bait in person that's something that media does. So it was just really nice to be in such a queer space with so many beautiful people that were all clearly just so smart and kind. Plus there was watermelon and that was great.

We left right after the rain stopped. And I was in a much better mood and a much better place emotionally. Tony let us know that he was on his way with Leon and Billy to bring them to our house and we had one more stop so we headed out after saying goodbye. And went over to Jessie's house because she had a new bike for me.

When I say new I mean she found this bike in a free pile on the side of the road and it's small so she thought that it would work for me. And it's about the same size as the bike I have already And it's very cute and it's a Schwinn. It's caliente Schwinn. I'm not sure what I'm going to name it I'm leaning to hot tamale or cherry bomb. But it's very cute and I'm excited to see if it works for me. So James took that off of her back porch and took the wheel off because it's got a quick release and we got it in the car and went home.

We beat the boys there by less than 10 minutes. And I was happy to see them. I got to show off my apartment just a little bit. I knew that they were going to be leaving very soon but it was cool to get to show them some stuff and then they talk sports with James and James gave them jerseys and hats to wear to the game if they would like to and then they were off to the light rail.

As soon as they left I got right into cleaning. I vacuumed I cleaned the kitty litter I cleaned the fish tanks I sprayed down the bathroom I wiped all the surfaces and I was having a great time even though it is entirely too warm in here. I had both air conditioners going but I take forever to really cool down the space. It seems to finally be working though. And I just spent like an hour and a half cleaning and making it nice in here and then I got to work laying out all of my squares.

I decided to do this kind of gradient of the three colors with the black. So it's like a checkerboard gradient and I really like it. I made one too many red squares and I still need six black squares. I'm frogging and old panel that I made with the black yarn that I never used for anything. I have a whole box of stuff that could be frogged honestly but I just grabbed that one and started doing that but then I got distracted and I didn't want to work on it anymore so I pinned all of the rows so that I can just grab them and start sewing them together and hopefully I will have all of that done by the end of camp. Honestly I don't think it's going to take me that long but it is time consuming. So we'll see what happens.

After I did that I chilled for a while and then I decided I needed to set up the beds for the boys cuz I didn't know what time everyone was coming back from the game And I was surprised to find that we don't have very many sheets. I don't know where they all are. I know I got rid of a couple but I didn't think I went crazy. So that's annoying. But I set the beds up best I could. And also we don't have a lot of like cooler weather blankets so I put the ones out that I could find but most of our blankets are made of fake fur so they're very great for the winter but not great for right now.

Hopefully the boys think it's fine. I also put teddy bears on both of the beds so I hope that makes them feel cozy.

Once I finish that I got into a project in the studio fixing my rainbow sandals. I thought maybe since they're basically ready for the trash I could try patching them. Which is something I've never tried before. I have some leather scraps so I cut squares to put around the ball of the foot area because it's cracked on both sides and then I glued and clamped the backs. I don't know if these will be usable at all but I love having just a pair of flip-flops I can throw on when I need to walk down to the car. Which is something I had to do to get the air pump for the air mattress. And that's when I was like I'm going to do this next project. And it was fun even though I got glue literally everywhere including on my stomach somehow.

So then I knew it was time to take a shower. And I took a very excellent shower and it made me feel a lot better. And I put on nice vanilla lotion. And then I did my eyebrows and now I am laying in bed with sweetp.

James just texted me about how bad the Orioles are. I don't know why they're shocked the Orioles have always been bad. But I hope they're having fun. And now I'm going to go back to watching my video and maybe working on my knit squares for a little bit longer.

I hope that you guys had a good day and that you are not somewhere where it is incredibly hot. I hope that you are being grateful and kind. I love you all. Be safe and tell your mom you love her.

[dogtoling]

Overall, I'm rather disappointed with the DLC. We get to endure 3 months of fan theories and speculation over basically nothing. We know nothing about what will happen.

I will note that this is confirmed to be present-day Inkopolis. So I know Inklings are kinda stupid, but are they really so stupid that they completely miss Inkopolis Square turning completely white?

Wave 1 is kinda boring. Considering I just got a Wii U, seeing the hub world again is so boring. They could have done so much more with the first Wave and they're just leaning on nostalgia to do the talking. What's the difference? I get Inkopolis in 1080p?

Anyway, back to side order. First off, I do not want another playable species, or for Nintendo to rush one in haphazardly. Octolings were an exception since they were already planned to be added in S1 but it just didn't make sense story-wise. I don't want them to rush one in without good reason just because the fans want it.

Next, we know nothing about Side Order. Yay, Inkopolis Square is white. Oh and here's some artwork that tells us nothing about the game. Theorize for the next few months while we figure out what and when to release stuff. Oh, and it might take us until next year to release the DLC so there's that (as much as I want Wave 2 this year, they didn't put 2024 on the eShop for nothing). I'm gonna hate scrolling through Reddit knowing we're gonna be throwing around theories for a long while.

I also really don't want this to be about Agent 8. She got an entire DLC to herself and she actually has a backstory, while 4 and Neo have next to nothing for a backstory. (3 technically doesn't either, but that was made up for with OE and S3's story mode). I'd love for Agent 4 to make a return, but knowing she probably won't is sad. I overall don't like how they shuffle between the same 5 characters in every story mode. Always Callie and Marie, Cap'n Cuttlefish somewhere, and a clueless you. They mixed it up with Pearl and Marina, but still kept Cuttlefish and 3. Just give us someone new! Reusing old characters is fine, but not 4 times in a row.

Anyway, thanks for all your thoughts. They were fun to read :)

relatable thoughts. To be fair, none of the inklings seemed to care that there was a massive death cannon in Inkopolis Bay during Octo Expansion either, so inkopolis square getting bleached and everyone just being like "oh okay" wouldn't even be that far-off, lol. I don't think it's literally the square in the real world.

HUGE agree with the reusing of the characters. I know it's a Nintendo trademark to throw around the same marketable characters in every game until the end of time, and honestly I wouldn't mind character-focused stories IF THE STORIES WERE ACTUALLY CHARACTER-FOCUSED AND THE CHARACTERS WERE GOOD. Especially OE and RotM so far felt like they were trying to tell some completely different and interesting story but the idols just HAD to be shoved in there for no reason, and the story isn't even about the characters in the end, they're just kind of there - but they're there enough to retract from other cool stuff that the story COULD'VE been about....

On the topic of a new playable species, I agree it would be weird if they added one out of the blue and it might set an annoying expectation for a new species to be added in every game. On the other hand, I want cuttlefish... there's been concepts of cuttlefish in the game before and it feels like it SHOULD happen at some point, given the common consensus of cephalopods as a group is "squids, octopuses and cuttlefish". Yet we have no cuttlefish... but we DO have an angry cuttlefish graffiti sticker alongside the angry squid and octopus ones. As to how they'd add cuttlefish and make it fit and not feel sudden and out of place, I have no idea.

[extremelyblackandwhite]

hi! for the 24 days of christmas can i pick “i drew their name! AGAIN. it’s been the third year in a row! what the fuck.” with lee bodecker or destroyer chris, please?

pairing: destroyer!ex-husband!chris x ex-wife!reader

a/n: thank you so much for your request! if anyone else wants to participate, here's the instructions

12 days of christmas

Chris never liked the holidays, never - even as a child. He found them pointless, shitty days wrapped up in fake shinny paper with just a high enough dose of capitalism to make the rich man happy. As his father used to say "why waste all my hard earned money on one year decorations?" and as each year passed by, he came to agree with him more and more.

      - Time to pick a name out the hat. - Erin placed the hat on top of his desk. He rose his eyes from his paperwork, sighing as he put his hand in the dirty hat which seemed to make way all year round. - And spare me the Grinch speech. It gets old. 

      - Secret Santa gets old. - he finally found a wrapped paper, taking it out and on top of his paperwork. - Who did you get this year?

      - Got you. Heads up, you’re getting a Starbucks gift card for 10 dollars. 

      - How thoughtful. - he rolled his eyes. - That will get me what? 2 whole coffees?

       - And you’re welcome. - she sat on top of this hat. - And who got the unfortunate luck of having you as their Secret Santa? 

He shrugged, grabbing the small, haphazardly wrapped little paper. No matter who the person’s name was, they were gonna get the same thing he gave everyone he was forced to give someone a present - a gift card to IKEA. However, as he unwrapped that little paper and a familiar name presented itself written in black ink, he found himself wondering if that was a good idea. He found himself wondering if he could ever give her a gift. That’d be weird. 

     - I drew her name! - he rubbed his face. - AGAIN! It’s been the third year in a row! What the fuck?! Let me pick again. 

     - No. - she took the hat away, somewhere he couldn’t find it. - You do this every year. It’s Secret Santa, she won’t know who gave her a shitty present. 

     - You mean my ex-wife? FBI laboratory specialist, highly skilled, will not figure out I gave her a shitty IKEA gift card? 

    - Maybe don’t give her an IKEA gift card? C’mon, don’t be cheap. You used to give great gifts. 

    - No, she used to give great gifts. I don’t think I can ask her what gift she wants. 

    - Sounds like your problem. We’re doing gift giving in a week. Sort it out. 

He guessed the IKEA gift card was out of the picture, yet again eve when they were married, he never knew what to give her. He guessed that’s why they worked during Christmas - she knew what to do and she loved it, she thrived in it. Maybe that was why they didn’t work out. All that he knew is that he couldn’t figure out what to give his ex-wife. God, he hadn’t spoken to her since ... well, he couldn’t remember the last he spoke to her. His lawyers had handed her the divorce papers, they didn’t even go to court. It was that easy. 

Shit. This had to be the universe trying to get him to actually speak to her. He’d never want to speak to her, actually, he’d considered moving to the CIA for a while, or working for the police department - anything really. However, the director was never too happy and so, for the past three years he’d been playing keeping away from her. Except for one particular evening where he’d gotten drunk and tried finding her, only to have his heart shattered once he saw her kissing someone. Ever since then, he’d successfully avoided his ex-wife and something told him, she’d successfully avoided him. 

      - Got the wife? - the guy who sat next to him pipped up. - Could always give her a date with me. She’s smoking. 

     - She’s my ex-wife and if you even speak to her, I’ll blow your head off. 

This was ridiculous. 

He could talk to her, he could ask her what she wanted for Christmas. Or we could ask one of her colleagues. Definitely the second option. Y/N had always been hard to buy gifts for, not that she was hard to please, after all she cherished any and everything given to her by anyone she cared for. She’d even kept the flowers he’d given her for their first date. God, what an awkward first date that had been, their reservation was for one person, they got rained on and her heels broke the moment she stepped out of the flat. Thinking about it, none of their dates ever went smoothly - something always went wrong yet she always found something to remember it by, to laugh about. What a pretty laugh she had. 

He could still remember the first day they met, probably one of the rainiest days in US history and she had thoughtfully placed her umbrella above his head as they rushed into the building. He could no longer remember what style her hair had been in, the colour of her nail polish, or the colour of her clothing, but he could still remember being absolutely enchanted by her. It was a feeling that he’d never had before - almost like all the oxygen had been knocked off him. It was a feeing he had never felt ever since and Chris was fine with that. He was of the opinion you had one great love and then several small ones - besides, he no longer cared for the dating pool. Whatever he ended up getting her, he’d possibly give it to Erin and spare him the awkwardness of having to deal with having to hand it to her.

However, faith did not seem to be on his side as Erin decided to ditch which meant he had to give it to her. Now, just because he had to give it to her did not necessarily meant he had to see her. He could just drop it off at her office desk and go his merry way. 

     - Chris? 

The sound was trembling, almost like a flute, feminine-like. He remembered that voice like the back of his hand, he remembered the different ways she’d say his name but none of them, none of the times she had called for him carried so much ... regret. This, this is why he didn’t want to see her. He slowly turned around, first looking at her smart shoes before following the A line of her lab coat up to her face. It still looked the same, even with the passage of time and a shorter haircut, she was still the same. She looked the same. 

     - Secret Santa. - he attempted to smile, despite his lip trembling. - I had ... had a meeting. 

    - Yeah ...

    - Shit, no I fucking didn’t. - he came clean immediately. - Just didn’t want to see you. 

    - Surprised you didn’t trade with Erin. That’s what you’ve done the past three years. 

    - She got me this year. Anyway ... I just wanted to leave the gift. I hope you like it. - he put his hands in his pockets. - You look good. 

    - Don’t be mean. - she sighed, walking past him towards her desk. Chris furrowed a brow, turning around to face her. - Don’t come here after not speaking to me for three years and tell me I look good. 

    - I’m not ...

    - No. - she interrupted him. - It’s not fair. You didn’t speak to me for three years, you just ... you just had your lawyer hand me divorce papers when you came back from undercover. I didn’t get a chance to even ... don’t be mean now. 

    - Did you want me to give you the divorce papers myself? 

    - Yes, but you were clearly too much of a coward to do it.

He stood still in his spot as if a weight had fallen right on him. 

    - You’re right. - he admitted. - But I only did it to protect you. I mean ... what kind of life were we living, Y/N? With me gone? Getting into undercover missions?

    - I didn’t care. We were happy, I was happy but apparently you weren’t. Clearly you never were.

     - You clearly didn’t take long to rebound either. 

     - Was I supposed to be eagerly awaiting? You made the divorce seem final.

     - To protect you.

     - You’re just selfish. You just did that so you wouldn’t feel remorseful if something happened. You knew the nature of your job when you married me, don’t act like you didn’t. You just got tired.

     - Tired? Are you fucking kidding me? I had the perfect wife and I only did this ... I only did that because I wanted you safe, I wanted you to be happy even if it was without me. After that mission with Erin, I just ... I couldn’t put you through me dying and grieving and all that shit. I only did that because I love you and I wanted you happy?

   - You think I’m happy? You think I’m happy knowing my ex-husband avoids me and would rather avoid me than talk? I loved you Chris, I loved you so much and you didn’t even ...

   - You would’ve convinced me not to. - he interrupted her. - You would’ve convinced me not to leave you and you would’ve succeeded. I can’t say no to you.

    - That is no excuse. 

   - Can we start this again? Please?

   - Maybe next year. 

[gotnofucks]

Choose

Written for @darkficsyouneveraskedfor Halloween Challenge! This is my first time posting here, so be kind 😊

 Character pairing: dark!Steve x Reader

Summary: Steve realizes he can’t let you go when you’re stuck in a safe house with him.

Quote: I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched

Words: 4.1k

Warnings: Non-con (implied), non-con touching, blackmail, coercion, 18+ only. Please don’t read if you don’t like.

MASTERLIST

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 The rain was falling in torrents and how you made your way through it you would never know. It was only September, but the rain made it much colder and you were so glad that you were in a car with heating on. Steve was driving almost blind and if it were someone else, you would be scared, but it was him and so you let yourself sink into the seat and relax.

 “Take my jacket, you look cold” He said as he shot your slightly shivering form a sharp look.

 You nod and reach behind to take his jacket and wrap it around your body. You do it without hesitation and with no question. Always so trusting and obedient, at least, when it came to him. You were small, in fact positively diminutive when it came to the super soldier sitting beside you and seemed to drown in his jacket. He smiled when he saw you, and you smile back at his cheeky look.

 “How long until we get to the safe house? I am hungry.” You asked, wiggling in your seat.

 “Not long. It’s right in the middle of this clearing. Maybe 10 more minutes”, He answered, reaching over to pat your knee in assurance.

 “You’ve been there before?”

 “Twice. Nat and I set it up just after we took down Shield and then later crashed here with Sam and Buck around 2 years ago. It’s safe and cozy.”

 You hum and played with your fingers. It was only going to be the two of you this time. It didn’t bother you all that much. You would rather it be him than anyone else. Well, maybe Tony, but after him you liked Steve the best. You were one of the younger avengers, having been recruited only two years ago by Clint Barton. You used to work for a covert government organization IMF where Clint was undercover for a few years and seeing your talent with a gun and a computer, he had once asked your help in one of his Avengers missions where you met Tony Stark who immediately took a liking to you and trained you under him.

 You worked as Tony’s tech girl, helping mostly with recon missions for a few months. Then Natasha started training you for field missions and low and behold, you were kicking ass with them for nearly 6 months now. You haven’t done very difficult missions yet, and not a single solo. Mostly you’re paired with Nat and Clint or, as this time, with Steve. Tony assured you he’ll let you do a solo soon, but always lamented that ever since you got outside, he missed his lab buddy.

 You loved these small missions with Steve. He was always patient with you and taught you the drills but didn’t hold back. He would let you take the lead at times and was always proud of even the smallest achievement. At first when you had met, you had been kind if intimidated of his aloofness, but it didn’t take long for you both to bond over cheesy 40s music and your mutual love for art.

 “Y/n, we’re here” Steve announced and got out of the car. You followed, grabbing your small bag and ran through the rain to the porch. It was like a getaway cabin and you were so glad you didn’t have to stay in some dingy hole. You wanted warmth, food, and a comfortable place to sleep.

 Steve shut the door behind you and took off his wet shoes, putting them upside down near the door. You take off his jacket and your shoes too, grateful to be away from the squelching soles.

 “There’s no fireplace” You observe with a pout, and Steve chuckled.

 “Y/n, it’s a safe house. The smoke would let people know someone is living here. We don’t want that now, do we?” He gave you an indulgent smile and walked through to the kitchen, starting to unpack the supplies and food.

 “But I am cold!” You whine, and for that moment Steve realized your age gap. He gestured for you to come to him while he put the water to boil and you slowly approached him with small steps. Once you are in front of him, he looked at your damp hair and clothes, thankful that his jacket had prevented you from getting too wet.

 “You cold, huh?” He asked, hooking a hang around your waist to pull you against his chest. You stumble and steady yourself with both hands against his massive shoulders, your head a couple inches below his shoulder.

 “Yeah” You moan, wrapping your arms around his body. “How the hell are you always warm, eh?”

 Steve chuckles again and continues to cook while hugging you with an arm around your body. This closeness isn’t new. He would never admit it, but Captain Steve Rogers is a serial cuddler and you are his favourite cuddle buddy. He would cuddle you on the couch during movie nights, he would cuddle you after returning from a tough mission and he would cuddle you when you get your period. Steve Rogers was your best friend, and you felt safe with him. But you didn’t know Steve Rogers wanted to be more than just your friend. He wanted you with him when he went to sleep and when he woke up, he wanted you when he cooked and when he took a shower. No, you had no idea that the National treasure of America was in love with you.

 It wasn’t like he was hiding his feelings. He just never came out and said them out loud. Steve often believed that actions spoke louder than words and so he tried to tell you his feelings by doing little somethings for you. He learnt to make your coffee exactly the way you liked, he watched the movies you liked and read the books you read. He learnt to cook vegetarian dishes since you despised any kind of meat. More than anything, he tried to get along with Tony. Tony was your protective big brother/father, and he loved you enough to scare off every man who ever looked at your way. You were the only one in the team to have rooms on the same floor as Tony and you both shared a kitchen. Steve knew that if he wanted you to himself, he needed to get on Tony’s good side. So, he bit his tongue when he wanted to snap and gave his go ahead to things he deeply disapproved of, just to have to build back the old trust. It worked out, since Steve was one of the only people who were allowed a mission with you.

 “Will there be hot water for a shower?” You asked, body being warmed by Steve. He looked down at your face, full of childish innocence and stripped off every hardness after a tired mission.

 “Maybe, but definitely not enough for both of us” Steve commented. The vegetable stew needed to simmer for a while, so he sat you both down on the worn couch in the living room, your head on his shoulder and his arm still around you. He had hoped you would pick up on his feelings, since having you this close did things to him. Your soft body fit so perfectly into his large one that he never wished to part from you. Maybe tonight would be that night.

 “I’ll call Tony and eat. You take that shower and save me some hot water if you can.” You said and took out your phone to let Tony know you were safe and would leave for compound in the morning as planned. Steve looked at you walk away, speaking softly to Tony and wished more than ever that the rain outside would turn into a storm just to prolong your stay. He didn’t get to have you alone a lot at the compound. There were always other people around, always Wanda wanting female company or Peter following you around asking how you impressed Tony. He liked it here in this little cabin, cooking a meal for you after a hard day of work.

 “Tony says to leave early tomorrow so we can reach home by lunch. He wants to take me to meet Stephen Strange” You say suddenly, breaking out Steve from his domestic fantasy.

 “Stephen Strange? Why?”, he asked, frowning.

 “Tony and him and doing some weird wizard-avenger collab in that Nepal place- what is it called, Kamartaj- for a few weeks”, you answer.

 “What’s that got to do with you?” Steve asked, slightly irritated and hands curing into fists.

 “He’s taking me along. Says he doesn’t want me away for so long. Also, this wiz, Dr. Strange, he’s apparently some kind of genius. Tony says I can learn a lot from him. But I think it’s just a ruse. I’m pretty sure they are dating, and he just wants me to meet him”, You say with a fond smile. Steve doesn’t smile or say anything.

 Weeks? You’d be gone for weeks? That too in another country without him. He didn’t like that. He didn’t like that at all.

 “You wanna go?” He asked in what he hoped was a normal voice. He wanted you to say no, wanted to see that hesitation in your eyes as you thing of being away from him for weeks, maybe months.

 “Sure, I think it would be fun. I wanna see the Himalayas and maybe I’ll visit India too. I’ve got a pen friend there who I’d love to meet.” Your reply was so nonchalant that for a moment Steve just stares, and then he is angry. Here was a perfect chance for you and him to spend time away from the overbearing presence of Tony Stark, but you would rather see snow covered mountains and meet a pen friend in India? He’d only thought you were being a little oblivious of his feelings, maybe deliberately trying not to acknowledge them as you wanted to take it slow. But it seems like you…it seems like you felt nothing beyond friendship for him at all. After all those months spent hugging and laughing together, and yet you would rather choose Tony over him. A rage settled over him and he needed to clench his jaw and curl his arm tight around the back of the couch to stop himself from grabbing you and…and doing things he had rather not do.

 “Take that shower. Leave your wet clothes outside, I’ll see what I can do with them” Steve said suddenly.

 “You sure you don’t want a shower too? We’ve got layers of grim from crawling through that tunnel.” You asked.

 Steve looked at you for a minute, eyes rowing over your small face. He took in the little acne scars you were so self-conscious about, your slightly chapped lips and those beautiful eyes that reared him in. He nodded.

 “Yeah, you go on. I’ll see if I need one” He said and went to the kitchen while you left for the bedroom with the connected bathroom.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 The bathroom was nicer than you had hoped, probably Nat’s doing if the products where anything to go by. You’d removed your wet clothes outside and stood naked under the stream of warm water, sighing with relief. It was a small mission but brutal on your body. It would have been heaven to have a tub in here, but safe houses were meant to be quick and effective, and this one was way better than others, so you didn’t complain. You were just going to wash your hair when the bathroom door opened, and Steve entered.

 “Steve!” You shouted, hands covering your breast and turning so your back was to him. You looked at him with wide eyes, expecting him to sputter and leave but he stayed, eyes lingering on your ass a bit before meeting your eyes.

 “Got any of that hot water left or have you finished all of it?” He asked, taking off his t-shirt and leaving his chest bare.

 Your mouth opened in surprise as your backed yourself into the corner, trying to make sense of what was happening. Your best friend had just barged into your bathroom while you were showering and showed no signs of leaving.

 “W-what are you doing, Steve?” You asked in a small voice, still covering yourself with your hands the best you could.

 “Taking a shower. I told you we didn’t have enough water for two, so I thought I’d join you. You were right anyway, we are grimy.” He said and fumbling a bit, dropped his pants down too. You panicked, not understanding what was happening as Steve stood in his boxers, taking steps towards you.

 “No. No no no no” You almost chanted that as a mantra, eyes going here and there, not knowing what to do. Steve reached your small body crowded into the corner and slowly, very slowly raised a hand to wipe away the dirty on your cheek. You started at his touch and quickly sidestepped, running towards the door. You didn’t know what had gotten into Steve, but you needed to get out of here. Now.

 You’d taken only two steps before a hand wrapped around your waist and brought you back screeching to a hard chest, back against front.

 “Stop. Steve, let me go. Please.” You said, your tears mingling with the water on your skin, one hand across your chest and other on his wrist trying to pry it off.

 “No sweetheart, you need to take this shower. You’re dirty and tired. Come.” You hated his voice for being soft and soothing still, showing no indication of what he was doing to you. His voice was still your Stevie’s voice, calm, cool, a little commanding and full of affection for you.

 “I- Steve, I don’t want a shower. Not like this, please.” You tried to break away, wiggling and crying but Steve didn’t listen and dragged you back and turned on the water again. You both were bombarded with hot water and stood under it for a minute before Steve turned it off again.

 “Gimme that shampoo, I’ll do your hair.” He said, releasing you from his hold. But it wasn’t any good as you were blocked by the wall on your back and Steve at your front. You hadn’t turned around yet, but now you did. Sobbing, with thighs squeezed tight to hide you down there and hands inefficiently covering your breasts, you looked at him with betrayed eyes. You didn’t try running again. You knew his strength; you have trained with him. He could take you down in seconds.

 “Why are you doing this? What is happening?” Your voice was small and broken, sending a pang through Steve’s heart. He loved you and didn’t want to hurt you, but you needed to see his feelings for you. He couldn’t risk you going away for months. He just couldn’t. His eyes slowly moved down from your face, taking in every inch of your body exposed, not touching, only looking.

 “We’re taking a shower after which we will eat our food while we watch some stupid movie on that laptop of yours. Then, we’ll cuddle and sleep with you on my chest and tomorrow morning you will call Tony and tell him you won’t join him for his trip to Nepal.”

 He was mad. He was insane, you were sure of it. Face burning with humiliation under his gaze, fire began sparking in your eyes. How dare this tall buff blond muffin think it okay to invade your space and demand such things from you? Just who the fuck did he think he was.

 “No. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, but you need to stop. Get out, or if you want to shower, let me go out. I’m done with whatever game you are playing.” You sneered at him. Steve had to smile at this, his little spitfire. He didn’t really expect you to give in easily, that’s not the girl he knew and trained. You were with the avengers because you could handle stuff others would wet themselves with. You were strong and he knew that. But he was stronger.

 “What’s gotten into me?” He asked, closing the distance between you so you were against the wall and caged by his arms on either side. His face was inches away and your breathing sped up. He looked cruel and menacing, the blue eyes you loved so much taking on a much darker hue. “You have gotten in me. You got under my skin and in my thoughts and in my heart. Now I want you under me.”

 He bent down and you were sure he was going to force a kiss on your mouth but he surprised you by pressing his lips softly on your forehead like he did when you had nightmares or right before a mission. It was a kiss of reassurance and love, and somehow, that just scared you more. Whatever Steve thought he was doing, he believed it was driven by love. And when Steve loved someone, he loved them without abandon. If he went against everyone to save his friend, what would he do to have you?

 “Steve…please…” You didn’t know what to say or what to do. You wanted to get away from him and cover yourself up to get some control back. You wanted to talk to him and forget this ever happened and get back your best friend.

 “You have two options. First, we both take a bath right now. I won’t touch you where you don’t want me to, we eat, and sleep and you go back with me to the compound like a good girl and tell everyone we are together. Or..” His eyes narrowed here, “Or, I could take you right here, right now and make you mine with little option. I could rail you deep and hard so you will feel me deep inside you for days on end. I know you’re not on birth control and I have no condoms with me, so if you get pregnant, you best believe I’ll have you tied down to myself with a ring on that finger by the end of the month. The choice is yours.”

 Your heart sank. You looked into his eyes, your whole body shaking and knees ready to give up. He was serious! He was absolutely serious, and you had no idea what the fuck happened. Just an hour ago you were sure he was the person who made you feel the safest, but now that sanctuary had been torn apart and some possessive stranger had taken its place.

 “You’re insane. You’ve lost it!” You cry, sliding down the wall as your knees collapsed, folding your knees to hide your nakedness. Steve followed you down and wrapped his arms around your small form.

 “I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched. You own me, my heart and soul. And soon, I’ll have you too. How that happens is your choice. Choose.” His tone bore no argument. You had just one card to play.

 “Tony would never stand for it. He’ll find out, I’ll tell him and then you’ll be done.” You made your tone harsh and full of venom. You don’t know what you expected him to do, but it definitely wasn’t laugh. It was an amused chuckle, like a daddy who was indulging his silly daughter, full of patronizing hilarity.

 “Sweetheart, you don’t think I have a plan for that? Even if I spend months bringing you flowers and singing love ballads from your window, he wouldn’t exactly be convinced. He isn’t exactly fond of me, is he? I had a plan in place for months. I didn’t want to have to use it honestly, I wanted you to come to me of your own violation. But I just thought as a back up plan…” You screamed as he suddenly scooped you up in his arms, still wet and naked and carried you out to the bedroom. He deposited you on the bed and gave you a towel that you hastily covered yourself with. You looked behind you and the door was locked. It wasn’t any use anyway; he could outrun you in his sleep.

 Steve got his phone out and showed you the screen, making your heart drop. There were numerous pictures of you with your family and friends from the past two years. Not just those, pictures of you with your previous team, the IMF, Ethan Hunt, and others. How Steve got these pictures you didn’t know, but it scared you.

 “Everyone, every single person in these pictures has a target on their backs. I have had a sniper after all of them for over a year, mostly just to keep an eye on you and to make sure you are safe. But don’t think for one second that I will hesitate to take them out. There is nothing in this world I wouldn’t do to keep you with me.” He sat beside you on the bed and putting a finger under your chin turned your face towards him. “It doesn’t need to be nasty, sweetheart. I don’t want to be the bad guy. I have never been one and you can keep me from doing anything drastic. All you need to do is convince Tony that you are the one who wants me. You are the only person he actually trusts, so you need to make it believable. He has denied you nothing, and if you come to him yourself and tell him you want me…well…no one has to die, do they.”

 This was a nightmare. Everything that has happened to you today is a nightmare. You didn’t want to believe Steve would hurt anyone, but then you didn’t think him capable of forcing him on you either. If there was even the tiniest bit of chance that he could harm anyone of your friends and family…no. You couldn’t let that happen.

 “Option one”, You whispered softly, eyes downcast and lips trembling.

 “What was that?” Steve asked, turning your face up again so he could look in your eyes.

 “I choose option one. We- We eat and sleep and I call Tony I won’t go with him. Then we can tell everyone we are together.”

 Steve grinned, his happy grin that everyone said only you brought out in him. It unnerved you that a man you loved and respected so much was doing this.

 “My good girl” He praised, and then he leaned down and pressed his mouth on yours. The kiss was gentle and soft, his mouth lazily moving against yours. If it were happening any other way, you would have enjoyed it. He broke away and looked at you with eyes that sparkled. “You’ll love me too, one day. I am yours, and you are mine.”

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 True to his word, you guys ate your dinner and watched a movie as you cuddled like you usually did at movie nights. Steve held you close, sometimes brushing his nose against the side of your neck or rubbing his hand along your sides. Afterwards, he laid down beside you, spooning your small body and holding it snug against his. He was warm, and you didn’t have anymore fight in you for today. The day was too fast and weird for you to process. You vowed to sleep now and to think of a way to get to Tony without arousing Steve’s suspicion. You weren’t ready to give up now.

 You’d been asleep for only a couple hours before you felt cold air around your body. You woke up with a start and found yourself on your back, your t-shirt removed and Steve hovering over you, placing open mouth kisses along your bare chest.

 “Steve! Steve stop!” You screamed, pushing against his chest. He looked at you with eyes blown wide with lust and taking your hands in one of his, he held them up while he tweaked your nipple with his other making you squirm. He bent down and swallowed your protests with a deep kiss, his tongue forcing its way inside your mouth and tasting you while he moaned.

“Steve please,” You were sobbing now, and trashing your legs which he held down with a strong thigh. “You…you promised. You said I get to choose. I chose option one”

 Steve looked at you for a moment then kissed your cheek softly. Moving his hand between your thighs he murmured in your ear, “I’ve changed my mind. I can’t wait anymore”

[queerquintessence]

heyo

so i recently have been obsessed with the idea of the voltron paladins living in the same house together sooo

i may or may not have spent the last like 3 hours working on headcannons

the characters in the house are keith, lance, hunk, pidge, and allura

(since they’re all relatively similar in age)

so sadly no shiro or coran but

anyway

yeah here they are

(once again a bit unorganized but it’s whatev)

• first off allura and lance are both housewifes

• and neither of them take any shit from the others

• allura: keith, could you pick your feet up? i’m trying to vacuum down here

• keith, sitting on the couch: couldn’t you just do it later

• allura:

• allura: move your feet or i’m telling lonce you have a crush on him

• hunk does the dishes most of the time because he’s mainly the one who cooks their food

• but they also alternate on a schedule

• lance, sighing dramatically: i do everything around here! keith, when was the last time you washed the dishes?

• keith: i literally washed them last night

• lance: well you missed a plate so it doesn’t count

• keith takes out the trash a lot except he doesn’t wear shoes so his feet are always dirty

• lance yells at him for it

• whenever lance takes out the trash he puts on whoever’s shoes are closest

• pidge: lance are those my shoes?

• lance, tiptoeing in sneakers that are 3 sizes too small: maybe

• the couch that they own is too small to fit everyone

• they either argue for 10 minutes over who gets to sit where or they just pile on top of each other

• pidge usually lays on top of someone’s lap when it gets crowded

• she can just flop on top of someone and they’ll just let her- no words spoken

• keith sits on the armrests and everyone gives him shit for it

• lance: aren’t you uncomfortable?

• keith: i like sitting here

• lance: alright edgelord

• lance lays with his legs sprawled on top of the couch

• sometimes pidge will lay on lance who will have his legs on keith

• hunk is fine with sitting on the floor but even he’ll start arguing over the good spot on the couch

• hunk: lance, buddy, you sat there last time- why not give someone else a turn?

• lance: hunk when was the last time you did your own laundry? huh. that’s what i thought

• dinners pretty chaotic

• that’s usually when they have their debates

• lance, pounding his fist on the table: mac and cheese is to be eaten with a fork and that’s that

• pidge: why the hell would you use a fork? spoons are just fine in my opinion

• keith, silently munching on his food knowing he eats it with a knife:

• pidge: alright, we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room

• everyone:

• pidge:

• pidge: keith, you gotta stop putting corn syrup on your peanut butter sandwiches it’s fucking weird

• allura: everyone in favor of limiting lance’s shakira privileges say I

• keith, pidge, and hunk: I

• lance, who’s totally offended: wh

• luckily, they all have their own rooms

• except the walls are super thin

• lance scream singing beyoncé: GOT ME LOOKING SO CRAZY RIGHT NOW YOUR LOVES GOT ME LOOKING SO CRAZY RIGHT NOW

• keith: why has god forsaken me

• even when they try to play music relatively quiet it can still faintly be heard

• muffled music from keith’s room: when i was, a young boy

• pidge: HA fucking EMO

• they all have Alexa’s in their rooms

• and pidge has access to all of them on her laptop

• pidge: psst- hey lance, watch this

• pidge: *fast typing on laptop*

• blasting from keith’s room: COUNTRYYY ROAAADS TAKE ME HOOOOME

• muffled keith screaming: pIDGE I SWEAR TO GOD

• in the morning during breakfast

• allura: why has lonce not come out of his room yet?

• pidge: hang on, i’ll wake him up

• lance’s alexa in the distance: I’M A GOOFY GOOBER YEAH YOU’RE A GOOFY GOOBER YEAH

• lance’s startled scream is then followed by a loud thud

• once a week they have a movie night

• keith: lance i am not watching a cheesy romcom for the 2nd week in a row

• lance: i have to listen to ‘welcome to the black parade’ eighteen times a day sit the fuck down

• keith, crossed arm for the duration of movie night: this love story is completely unrealistic

• everybody shushes him on cue

• they also have monthly sleepovers in the living room where they giggle like middle schoolers

• keith knocks over an entire bowl of popcorn

• allura discovers the concept of a pillow fight and effortlessly knocks everybody to the ground

• lance flops on the air mattress and launches pidge across the room

• while everyone is trying to sleep

• lance: guys guys i’m gonna say something

• lance:

• lance: mayonnaise

• everybody loses their shit laughing because it’s 2 in the morning and they’re sleep deprived

• the bathroom sink is a mess

• their toothbrushes are color coordinated

• since they have to fit so much shit on the sink they have specific spots where they put their stuff

• pidge: hunk, your toothbrush is in my spot

• hunk: what? no- this corner of the sink is mine

• the debate results in all of them crowded in the bathroom arguing for 10 minutes

• keith: i don’t even remember having a designated spot on the sink

• allura: we need a toothbrush holder

• sometimes they do their nightly routines together

• which is also chaotic

• lance is applying a face mask, which drips onto pidge’s arm

• pidge then jerks her arm away- hitting keith’s toothbrush

• it then catapults off the counter and sticks to the wall

• keith: i left the room for one second what the hell did you do

• i’ve seen this headcannon somewhere before and i love it so i’m elaborating

• whenever keith is tired he’s giddy and hyper and loopy

• keith after not having a good nights sleep for 3 weeks, getting a running start and flipping onto the couch: a woop

• pidge: what in fucks name are you doing

• lance is the same exact way when he’s tired so they act like complete and utter idiots

• keith: lance, hey lance guess what

• lance: what

• keith:

• lance:

• they both burst out laughing

• lance: keith, omg you know what- keith rhymes with teeth

• keith:

• keith: holy shit

• eventually they both burn out and are just exhausted

• lance with his face planted in the carpet: uuuggghghggg

• allura: you finally done?

• lance: *angry muffled grumbling*

• pidge tends to fall asleep anywhere in the house

• usually with her computer on her lap or nearby

• she’s usually discovered the next morning

• hunk walking into the kitchen, sleepily rubbing his eyes: kinda want some orange juice

• pidge is just asleep on top of the fridge

• everyone else eating breakfast at the table

• keith: has anyone seen pidge?

• soft snoring is heard from under the table

• keith: ah

• they just put up with each other’s bullshit all day everyday and i love it

• lance, slamming his bedroom door open: everyone in my room i had a nightmare and need affection

• everyone emerges from their rooms grumbling and all file into lance room with their pillows and stuffed animals

• pidge trying to keep the remote away from lance: go long, hunk!

• keith appearing in the doorway and getting hit straight in the forehead with a remote: fUCK

• lance: are those my socks?

• keith: huh? oh, i dunno they were in my laundry pile

• lance: no those are totally my socks give them back right now

• when they all moved in together it was before keith and lance started dating so obviously there was shipping

• pidge, bursting into hunk’s room: i have klance tea

• hunk: spill

• lance: wh- keith and i are NOT dating

• pidge: you guys literally live together!

• lance: WE ALL LIVE TOGETHER

• allura, to hunk during dinner: i don’t know about you, but it seems to me like keith has a thing for lance

• keith: princess you’re not even whispering we can all hear you

• keith and lance secretly holding hands under the dinner table while lance is telling a story

• lance, being dramatic and expressive, lifts his hands in the air to accidentally reveal that his hand is intertwined with keith’s and its immediate chaos

• keith letting go immediately: wH HUH HOW DID THAT GET THERE

• pidge: I FUCKING TOLD YOU

anywayyy that’s all

i literally love this so much so don’t be surprised if i come up with some more later

yeah

bye

[heartsoulrocknroll]

Dorney Park First-Time Trip Report 8/12/23

This was day three of our three-day NJ/PA coaster trip. We only spent two and a half hours at Dorney, and I have to say, this was probably the worst amusement park experience I have ever had. The operations weren't the best, the parking/pick-up/drop-off situation was insane, and it was a very busy, hot summer Saturday. And for me, the ride lineup just wasn't good enough to overcome all of that. We had to skip the wild mouse due to our time crunch. But my big regret is that I totally forgot about Demon Drop.

Coaster Rankings and Thoughts

1) Talon (x 1 ride)

I liked this ride a lot. The first half has the whip and the positive Gs you would expect, with the traditional loop/zero-g roll/Immelman sequence. But what I enjoyed perhaps the most was the unconventional second-half with the nice, long helix and some more forceful, low-to-the-ground turns before and after the final corkscrew. There is also a decent-sized, straight drop just after the helix that, surprisingly, gives a little airtime. It's a very comparable ride to Great Bear, which has the same number and type of inversions. But they each have their own unique twists in between these elements, and I'm really not sure which I prefer. I wish I could have gotten a second ride, but the line was just too long, and the ops were just too slow.

2) Steel Force (x 2 rides)

This was the only ride we did where the line was moving quick enough for a second ride. This was my first Morgan. It's a nice, long, enjoyable ride with a pretty good sense of speed, but it doesn't really do much force-wise. I rode in row 17 and row 3, and came away thinking the drop, the camelback, and the helix really don't do anything. The ending run of smaller hills, especially in row three, does give some solid airtime, but it's still nowhere close to what I would call strong airtime. It's a fun ride, but it is forgettable.

3) Possessed (x 1 ride)

I am so glad I was able to get on this, as these Intamin Impulses are dropping like flies. This was my first one. The initial launch is pretty good, and the sensation of shooting straight up into the sky via the twisted front spike, seeing blue all around you, then climbing even higher up the spike on the second pass is a crazy one. The ride just doesn't last long enough to rank above Steel Force. I imagine it would if it had the holding brake.

4) Hydra the Revenge (x 1 ride)

I was just saying in the SFGA trip report that I can hardly distinguish between the different sit-down B&M loopers, but this one is the exception. It's smaller than the others, it's slower, and it has the strangest profiling on the inversions that I've seen on one of these rides. It has that dumb, slow, hangtime roll out of the station, which I couldn't care less about. Instead of a vertical loop, it has an "inclined dive loop," which barely counts as an inversion. The zero-g roll and corkscrews don't have much force or whip to them, and the cobra roll really doesn't do anything. Looking at the cobra roll off-ride, it just looks crazy. It's just a weird, boring ride.

5) Thunderhawk (x 1 ride)

This is the oldest coaster I have ever ridden at 99 years old, and I'm so glad I got to do it. I love classic woodies, but even I have to admit this one doesn't do a lot. It doesn't have a lot of speed or forces, but what can you expect from a ride this old? It's still a fun ride for what it is.

Trip Details

We didn't get in the park until 12:30 PM, well after they had opened. My mom dropped us off and left to see other things in Allentown. This was a credit race basically, as I was trying to get to Knoebels later that same day. We went to Talon first and got on after about a 20-25 minute wait. We considered Wild Mouse, but had to skip it because of how long the line was and how little time we had here. Next, we got on Hydra after about a 30-minute wait. We got on Possessed pretty quick, hardly having to wait at all. I think we caught it coming back up after being down for a little while. Next was Thunderhawk, which we waited about 30 minutes for. Then we got on Steel Force twice, with probably less than a 10 minute wait for each ride. It was an extremely hot day, and walking back up the hill from the Steel Force/Possessed area to the front gate sucked. Lmao. Being in such a hurry to get the credits and get out didn't help my mood and my perception of the day, I'm sure. We were out of the park itself before 3:00, but it was probably another 30 minutes before we were out of the parking lot. The parking/pick-up/drop-off situation was the worst part of the day. When my mom came back to pick us up, it was almost impossible for her to get back in and for us to get back out of the parking. I don't know if it was just that busy, or if this is always an issue. Anyway, this park gives SFOG some stiff competition for the worst park I've been to, and at least SFOG has Goliath and a little RMC. Lol.

[erectionsandtea]

Roller rink skate date headcanons! (poly party) insp. by this post, for @mike-wheeler-is-gay (I know you wanted byler specifically and I usually write poly party, but I tried to stick some extra byler in here for you, I hope I did it justice and that you like it!)

So many paragraphs this should really just be a fic, I'm sorry

- Mike is super tall and gangly is absolutely the worst skater in the party (tied only with Lucas, who put on his very first pair of skates and promptly fell on his face and they weren't even on the rink yet, they were still on the carpet area)

- the moment Mike steps into the actual skating floor, he falls bc he's tall gangly uncoordinated Mike, and Will is just standing there rolling his eyes, like "babe, you're a mess" but he doesn't mind bc it means he gets to hold Mike's hand (and hold Mike in general) while he helps his bf balance and skate

- and Mike is like "I don't deserve you, why are you even with me, I'm so awkward" (poor self deprecating bby), and you know Will would respond with "are you kidding, you're amazing, why are YOU with ME?" (also a self deprecating bby), but then he falls and pulls Will down with him (aka on top of him lol)

- and they laugh, and just as their lips touch, the moment is ruined by Max zooming in their direction screaming "get up before you get run over!!" And she manages to avoid them (being the zoomer that she is) but Lucas has to swerve and falls the fuck over ofc (luckily the rink isn't super crowded that day so nobody's in any real danger)

- and Dustin is looking at byler like "this isn't even that hard guys, come on, are you even trying??"

- El and Will have totally been going to the rink (sibling bonding yo) and everyone realizes that's how they got so good bc El is totally the best skater in the group

- except for Suzie who is a skating queen

- El and Suzie totally having races from one end of the rink to the other

- Max totally joining them and they let her win, just once

- Dustin joining them and after he wins twice in a row (pure luck), Max and El pretend cross his path and bump into him, totally fucking him up, and Dustin's just like "are you shitting me?" (but it's all in good fun, everyone knows that)

- El and Max holding hands as El helps her get better at skating, bc Max is decent on skates but better on her skateboard (bc how do you wheels on both feet separately ??) (like skiing vs snowboarding)

- byler doing that thing where holding hands facing each other, and Mike learning how to actually move his feet and skate forward, and that's propelling Will backward (and Will constantly throwing praise at him and Mike grinning so big bc he's doing it! lol)

- Will and Mike holding hands as they slowly skate around the edge of the rink

- Mike needing to stop a moment and grab the wall to keep himself up and steady, and Will coming around in front of him, his hands over Mike's,and they stand there all adorable and then kisses (except Mike has to duck down bc Will cannot stand on his tippy-toes in skates)

- eventually Mike is like "I need a break" (from falling and stuff, tho he has gotten better) and he goes to sit down

- and then El comes over to join him bc "you looked lonely" (he isn't really lonely, he just kind of has a resting bitch face sometimes, tell me I'm wrong, am I actually wrong tho ??)

- they sit together in silence, watching the rest of the group playing some weird skate-tag game (rules at the bottom)

- Mike is watching Will with a smile on his face, laughing and having fun, and he says to nobody, really "what did I ever do to deserve him?"

- El replies "probably whatever I did to deserve you" and they look at each other and smile and then cute lil Mileven kiss

- their hands reach over (cos they are sitting like RIGHT next to each other, no space)

- they continue to sit there, hands clasped, her head on his shoulder, watching the group and sometimes making comments to each other and laughing

- after a while Will comes over to check on his bf and sis) ("I don't know which is more bruised, my knees or my ego" -> Mike, "you're doing really well!" -> El), which is actually kind of nice for El bc she wants to go skate some more but she doesn't want to leave Mike by himself

- before she leaves tho, she wants a kiss, so still holding Mike's hand she gets up and wheels around to face him and grabs his other hand and is like "I want a kiss" bc she's just blunt like that (it's a good thing)

- and mike laughs at her bluntness bc SO CUTE, and so Mike gives her one of those super cute kisses where he puts his hands on the sides of her face, you know? And she has to balance herself by putting her hands on his knees (Sorry, I just had to get a Mileven kiss in here)

(so much detail in those moments ^ I'm...sorry?)

- so Will sits there with Mike, and they hold hands and share kisses and say cute sweet things to each other, and honestly they spend more time looking at each other than anyone/thing else

- Will goes and buys them one giant drink to share bc boys gotta stay hydrated (can someone please draw this or maybe ALL of this idk ??)

- the rest of the group annoys them (but not really) by hanging over the wall and saying "AWWW" super loud and making kissy faces

- and then El comes back over later and says "okay, that's enough sitting down, we're going back skating, come on" and she grabs Mike's hand and Will's hand and tries to pull them up but it's hard bc wheels (like she's about to slip and the boys have to grab her arms to catch her), but the boys comply and go back to the rink floor

- Dustin and Suzie can totally do skate-dancing, whatever that is (and they totally get applause)

- Max skating by everyone so many times and being like "zoomer!" and everyone is like "pls stop, we get it"

- Dustin trying to tell help Lucas how to skate by actually explaining how the skates and the rubber stoppers work, and Lucas not getting it and just being like "can you explain in English please??" And Dustin throws his hands up like "I fucking give up, you're hopeless"

- Max learns how to skate in a small circle (basically just turning around without stepping) and she's super fucking proud of herself and does it constantly

- Max eventually needs to be stopped by El and Lucas bc "babe, you're gonna get so dizzy" (you can decide who says that 😊) but it's too late bc she's already dizzy

- Lucas and El lead Max off the rink floor and she just immediately falls down to sit on the carpet bc so dizzy and El falls down next to her bc hand holding (she gets pulled), and Lucas sits down too

- the girls can't stop laughing and Lucas is looking at them like "tf is wrong with you guys?" (but not really), also he's just smiling at them and laughing with them bc goddamn they are so cute, his girlfriend is the most beautiful girl in the world and seeing her as she is right now just inflates his heart

- eventually Max can't stay upright so she lies back and El follows her and they are just lying there together (Max on her back, El on her side facing Max, no space), giggling so hard, they can't stop laughing for some reason (I think it's bc when one laughs, it makes the other laugh too)

- Max is like "you, boyfriend, kiss" and so Lucas complies

- an employee has to come over and say "you can't lie down here, it's a safety hazard" and Lucas is like "we're sorry, sir" and he's like "babe, we gotta move"

- so he gets the girls up and they bring max to a bench where she can sit, instead of sitting tho, she lies down again, on the bench with her head in El's lap, and then elmax kisses as El plays with her hair

- El and Max basically take over the bench that Mike and Will were sitting on, and they also steal the boys' giant drink (barely a quarter empty) cos hydration

- Will and Mike trying to kiss while not holding the wall, but fucking down AnD having his eyes closed throws Mike way off balance bc what a klutz, and then he falls and Will is fuckin laughing and he feels bad but also it's funny

- so then Will gets down too (more gracefully but lbr, anyone can be more graceful than Mike, without even trying) and is like "it's okay, we can do this here" and then sitting kisses

- El trying to help Mike but she's having too much fun and ends up just speeding around while Mike tries to catch up with her, and she has to keep going back for him

- Mike feeling kind of embarrassed bc his gf is amazing while his own skating is questionable, and he confides this to her and is like "why are you with me, I'm so clumsy and awkward" (self deprecating again), but El makes him feel better by telling him that she's with him bc she loves him and actually she thinks it's kind of cute that he's not that good at skating and she likes being the one who helps him for once (bc he's helped her for so long with so much)

- and then Mike gives her one of his lil mike-smiles (you know the one I mean, like the one right after he kisses her for the very first time, in season 1)

- and then a Mileven kiss, but Mike almost loses his balance again like he did with the byler kiss, but El can sense it's about to happen and has to break their kiss to hold him up (she's holding both his hands, fingers intertwined), but it's okay, they just smile at each other share a little laugh at the situation and how uncoordinated he is, and they scoot their skates really close together in a sort-of huh type thing

- arcade games after!! (But I'll put that in its own separate post 😄)

- rules to the weird skate-tag game: 1) the wall is the safe zone, but you can only stay there for 10 seconds at a time 2) you cannot untouch the wall for one second and then go back to touching it for 10 seconds, you have to actually leave the wall and skate (HOWEVER you can try to skate from the wall on one end of the rink to the wall at the other end) 3) you are allowed to skate around the edge while touching the wall, as long as you only do so for no more than 10 seconds 4) whoever is 'it' cannot hover around those on the wall 5) crashing into someone does not count as tagging them 6) no tag backs

~

I tried to get equal parts of all the ships in this one but I know I failed miserably, I'm so sorry lol (clearly you can tell who I ship the most)

If you want to add more (I will if I think of any), send me ideas, or request anything, please feel free! 😀👍🏻

[jackyjango]

Part 1- Mouth to Mouth Combat

Pairing: cherik

Written for this prompt

Erik's empty stomach grumbles in protest. The digital clock on his monitor displays it's 2:30 PM, but he hasn't had a bite to eat since that morning. An ache has been steadily building in his head that throbs with every pump of blood through his jugular. Three ounces of coffee somehow hasn’t seemed to tame it. He needs something stronger. Something like nicotine.

He's mulling over how he wants to torture Sean for screwing up the third blueprint in a row when his phone begins to ring. Though he's set the ringing volume to the minimum, it draws the attention of his interns. Angel gets up from her seat with an excuse of locating a fallen pen while Sean leans back in his chair pretending to stretch his legs. Even though Alex’s eyes are stuck to the monitor, Erik knows that his ears are pointed in his direction. Utter bastards. At least Darwin is the only one in their lot who has the decency to pretend that he’s minding his own business. Pretend, being the key here.

Erik glares at all of them until they pretend to shrink back to work before picking up the call.

'Hello, aunt Ruth.’ He tries to keep his voice to a whisper, but it comes out as a growl. ‘No aunty, I'm not angry with you for calling. That's absurd- No aunty, I'm just at work. Yes, yes…. - yes aunty. You know I will. Of course, I will. Yes- I'm eating. He knows it too. What? This Saturday? Alright, I'll ask him if he's free. Yes, I'll bring him if he's free. Of course, I will.’

On the other end, aunt Ruth goes on berating Erik’s unhealthy eating habits without giving him a breathing pause while Erik nods and aquices to whatever she says. He’s just about to reassure her the third time that he’s been eating his meals on time when Azazel bursts into life in front of him with a hiss of air which overlaps with whatever Aunt Ruth says next.

Tapping on his watch, Azazel mouths the words: ‘Let's go.’

'Alright, aunt Ruth, I have to go now,’ Erik says, half getting up from his desk. 'Yes, yes. I'll check with him and text you. Love you, too… Bye.’

Pocketing his phone, he turns to glare at his sad-excuse of team members. Like a flock of birds dispersing at a pelted stone, they lung back to staring at the screen and tapping idle keys.

Azazel chuckles beside him as they head out into the roaring Genoshan sun.

The chicken roll they both take from the street vendor manages to vaguely quieten Erik’s stomach. He lights a cigarette after walking a short distance to the smoking zone in front of their office building. Floating the lighter to AZ, Erik sends out a text to Charles.

Hey, Aunt Ruth’s invited us to dinner on Saturday. You free?

The reply comes immediately, which means that Charles is on his free hour.

When am I not free for her cooking? Count me in! :)

While Erik sends aunt Ruth a text to confirm that both he and Charles would be coming for dinner, a second text comes from Charles.

Speaking of dinners, how does pasta sound for today?

Smirking, Erik takes another puff of his cigarette.

Are you cooking? Really?

Hey, my cooking isn’t all that bad. I’m decent. Well… mostly.

They both know that Charles’ cooking doesn’t come anywhere near the decent territory, so Erik doesn’t comment on the decency of Charles’ cooking or bring up the fact that he almost burnt the kitchen on three different occasions. Instead Erik sends out: In that case, A okay for pasta.

Stomaching substandard pasta is a small price to pay for being Charles’ roommate.

I assure you, my friend. You won’t be disappointed, comes Charles’ text followed by a grinning emoji.

The devil that he is, Az peeks into his phone and smirks. 'Taking to your boyfriend, huh?'

Erik rolls his eyes. 'Charles is not my boyfriend, Az. He's my friend, just like you are.'

Az shudders and blows out a cloud of smoke through his nose, the image rendering as the incarnation of Satan himself. 'Please, don't compare me with him.'

Erik supposes Az is right. It'd be grossly unfair to compare someone like Az with someone like Charles.

‘Hey,’ Az says, inhaling another puff of smoke into his lungs, ‘A friend of mine is playing at the pub downtown this Saturday. I’m going out with the boys. Wanna join?’

‘No, I’m going to aunt Ruth’s for dinner. You carry on.’

‘And is Charles going with you?’ Az asks way too innocently for Erik’s liking.

‘Yes.’ Erik agrees begrudgingly.

Az pins him with a look that spells out crystal clearly, see what I mean by boyfriends?

Erik barely restrains the urge to smack Az on the head. ‘He’s a friend and a roommate, Az. Nothing more.’

‘Really?’ Az asks leaning on a pillar, his movements gracefully feline; almost akin to a bored cat toying with a ball of yarn aware of the level of destruction it’s capable of. ‘Is that why you refuse to move out or is it because you prefer to travel twenty five kilometres to work?’

Okay. Erik will agree that travelling almost an hour to work is a bit of a hindrance. But it wasn’t a hindrance two years ago when Erik was looking for a place near the engineering firm he was interning at the time. He’d seen an ad on a communal mutant app asking for someone to share a two bedroom flat with. The man who had posted the ad, Charles Francis Xavier, at the time had been a freshly minted post graduate eyeing the position of a junior lecturer in the Genoshan university with a lease amount to a nice house too hefty to bear on his own.

The house itself was more agreeable to Erik and More importantly to Erik’s meagre stipend.

Charles had declared that he’s gay and a telepath the day they’d met, and that Erik should look elsewhere if he had a problem with either of those. In response, Erik had plucked the pen tucked into Charles’ breast pocket with his powers and had signed his half of the lease agreement.

Erik’s not an easy person to live with (and Az will enthusiastically attest to it). He’s weird and particular and controlling and territorial (And that’s just the first four entries on AZ’s list). He doesn’t know what to attribute it to, but living with Charles for a roommate is …. easy.

His living arrangement with Charles is comfortable. Charles doesn’t have any irritating habits. He isn’t stingy with money or particular with the groceries. He carries out his fair share of cooking and cleaning around the house. They take their turns doing the laundry and the dishes. What talent Charles lacks in cooking, Charles makes up for it in baking (And that’s coming from a man who hates anything with more than two spoons of sugar in it). He isn’t overly dirty or messy. Charles picks up after himself (except when he has finals or is in the middle of a research. The house is a dump zone for his tea mugs and their dining table is a disaster zone for papers during such bouts).

More importantly, Charles respects Erik’s boundaries. He doesn’t poke his nose into Erik’s business or needle Erik for anything he isn't willing to share. It helps that they keep their personal lives separate, too. Whatever flings he has, Charles keeps it outside of their shared home and Erik returns the favour. The only things they argue on are which show to watch on TV or which place to order in from. And all the times they’ve come very close to fighting are nights spent over a chessboard pitching points to and fro, for or against human-mutant relationships and ideologies. Erik would be lying if he said that he didn’t live for such nights.

In little over two years, Charles has become Erik’s best friend. And apart from Az (who’s more of a brother Erik can’t get rid of no matter how hard he tries), Erik doesn’t have many of them. So he doesn’t see why he should give up all of that for a few hours saved in commute to work.

Voicing any or all of it will only encourage Az to needle him more, so Erik shrugs and squashes his spent cigarette with the heel of his boot. ‘Come on, it’s getting late. I still have two blueprints to review before seven.’

Az groans at the mention of blueprints. ‘I have three to finish. God, Shaw will bite my head off my shoulders if I don’t complete it by today.’

With that, they move into the blessed cool of the air conditioned building.

Just before Erik turns on his monitor, a text alerts Erik (and by proxy all of his interns he shares his cubicle with). It’s from Charles and says: Got to get to my classes now. See you at home Erik! :)

See you at home, Erik sends and smiles to himself.

He just hopes Az doesn’t see it.

-

[moldygreenblue]

things from the asoue movie

(i personally think did better than netflix asoue, with “honorary mentions” that i can tolerate in ways.)

1. the movie soundtrack. thomas newman composes a lot of good scores, and everything in the asoue movie soundtrack is no exception (drive away is a real head banger). the fact it’s all on youtube, means one can jam to it whenever they go on youtube (i’m guilty of this). i love the netflix soundtrack a lot as well because shoot that is jim dooley’s music (i love his music ever since pushing daisies came out!). but netflix...where’s the official soundtrack? the fact jim dooley’s youtube channel has him uploading songs via request means he’s the only one to listen to the fans who want the show’s soundtrack is why the movie did better because of netflix’s poor treatment by not releasing it. it has to be jim dooley himself having to do it (and i appreciate him doing so because omg i can finally hear the tpp version ‘that’s not how the story goes’ without lemony talking over *tears up*)

2. the vfd group photo. everyone in the photo feels all organic and real. you got members sitting on the floor and steps. some members are standing. some members smiling happy to be there, or with neutral expressions because they don’t want to be there. some are in gestures of sorts (ike is flexing his arm like a goofball; that’s a nice touch to flesh out a dead minor character). it almost feels like the movie team decided ‘since we have the budget, we should get billy connolly, meryl streep, and others to take a photo and we’re telling them they can do whatever they want’. netflix’s vfd feels artificial and very, fake in ways. i don’t want to say it’s a bad photoshop, because group photos can have everyone stand in neat little row all smiles, but some heads feel...off. like, something feels really off with larry, ike, and uh, the guy i think is lemony who is clearly got the worst of it. is that a bad photoshop?

3. the littlest elf. the movie made that elf have a (minor) presence from beginning to end. there’s the fake out opening. the theme song from the fake out opening is heard three more times (twice in-verse, and it’s the final song in the credits) and it’s annoyingly catchy. olaf having a bobble head doll so shoot that means it’s popular franchise in the movie world. the movie made the littlest elf a thing, and netflix only makes it a word-of-mouth reference. what’s weirder for netflix is gustav despite having more of a character and kept his director status (unlike movie!gustav), never bring up this horrific masterpiece and the connection between the two (that i can recall). like, this is not cool, netflix!

4. movie!monty being able to carry snakes and having a personal snake.  the movie probably had the budget to do so unlike netflix, but monty in any continuity would carry a snake with him if possible, even for a short amount of time. movie!monty goes up a level by being a giddy herpetologist with his own personal pet snake he loves and adore (sidenote: movie!monty, that’s why petunia thinks you’re a tree you always carry her around. you spoil her rotten). netflix!monty with the winged lizard is not the same vibe, because it’s cgi. i think netflix!monty should have hold a real snake for at least a minute, as a treat.

5. two-thirds of the wide window section. it’s not that i think the netflix version is bad, for i do enjoy it. but there’s so many details in the movie version i enjoy: josephine and her poofy black mourning dress. klaus dissociating in the kitchen and josephine losing it. josephine casually telling the children ‘oh no he [ike] got eaten by leeches’ and the baudelaires are all (O_o) and sunny speaks for them all. the fact josephine is strong enough to pull the chain to show off the wide window all by herself and violet and klaus are still (O_o).  josephine screaming at the jane lynch cameo + “we got to get her out of the house.”. sunny accidentally dropping the apple basket. klaus tackling captain sham shamelessly. the baudelaires getting accuse of shoplifting. everything about hurricane herman, especially with josephine’s fears coming true. klaus assuming violet may kill them all with her plan to get off the platform.

the fact that the deleted/extended version of josephine’s death is so messed up (josephine realizing she can’t jump, josephine allowing herself to sit back on the boat, crying as she apologizes, the fog covering her and the boat), i truly think the wide window was the book the movie team attempted to do the series right in their own way, but meddling got involve.

and now, honorary mentions.

honorary mention 1: movie!powder face women ages. i don’t know what is up with their personalities (i’m including deleted scenes), but you know what? the movie team did cast two actresses who fit the age range of the sbg. had the movie continued in hypothetical sequels, i would have 100% believe their recruitment into vfd is connected to the loss of their sibling in a fire. netflix!powder face women are older than their movie counterparts (and maybe book counterparts, taking brett helquist’s illustrations of them as them being on the younger side), so when netflix decided to make ishmael the creator of vfd, they pretty much made a giant hole of a contradiction over their statement of losing a sibling to a fire (unless they aged very badly). netflix due to their major changes of vfd, made the movie look good in a weird way. honorary mention because movie series is dead in the water, and their characterization.

honorary mention 2: the baudelaire’s mansion. the exterior only shows up for one second in its glory before fernald stabs his hook into the photo, but given how the ruins are shown a lot, it’s easy to tell the mansion isn’t super huge, but still huge and noticeable. its location being in middle of the street holding a corner spot of sorts means looking from high above does give the illusion it’s in the ‘heart of a dirty and busy city’. the netflix mansion...it’s something. the netflix mansion looks like it’s borderline on a suburb neighborhood, and the mansion takes up six lots like this not what i thought in mind. it’s honorary mention because the exterior shows up for one second (and i’m not sure how to feel about the interior).

honorary mention 3: movie!lemony hiding his face 24/7. netflix!lemony showing his face is because he’s narrating the series from the future. whenever (past) netflix!lemony shows up, there’s is a sense (future) netflix!lemony is trying to avoid narrating himself because it screams, “oh hey that’s me! oh wait that’s me. i’m just...going to go.” and he leaves and only comes back after he’s certain past!lemony is gone. as much i as actually enjoy what netflix did, i do like the ‘i’m not going to show my face, suckers’ angle lemony has in the books. 

the movie carries this over. lemony’s face is always not in the shot because the movie is showing his body head down, obscure by shadows, or do show his face but partly. the whole ‘my ribbon just jam’ bit still has lemony still refusing to not show his face. in fact, it’s hard to find a shot where his face is ‘visible’ without editing the lighting and shadows and what not until the ending, when lemony gets his transcript out of the typewriter due to the lighting of the lamp:

it’s a honorary mention because excluding lemony having no shame on interrupting the fake out opening, no shame on telling the audience to jump out the airplane if they’re watching the movie there, the ‘ribbon just jammed’ moment (if only because movie!lemony blank out afterwards), and technically lemony being melancholic after looking out the spyglass (lemony would totally do that, but in a different context), movie!lemony doesn’t do a lot of things that make him be, well, lemony. that, and movie!lemony’s aesthetics still confuses me to this day.

[pbandjesse]

I got some foot masks in the mail the other day and I am trying it and I have bags on my feet and it is so bizarre. But if it works that would be excellent.

Today was a super busy day. It was go go go from the moment I woke up until around 4. It was a good day overall. Even with some weird stresses.

This morning James woke me up and I said I needed the extra hour. So I went back to sleep until 8.

James was at work by the time I got up. And I made the bed and felt a little better. I love this wrap dress. So I was pretty comfy. I had a sweater on this morning but very soon I would take that off. It was strangely strangely warm. It was 76 degrees! Which makes me nervous for the summer but we did have one 70 degree day last February too. I checked the blanket. I have the data. I am sad we didn't have any snow.

I got to the musuem and felt good. Felt excited. I was training people and I had three needles programs! What an excellent day.

When I got there I just assumed the front door was locked but it was not and Jessica teased me for not checking. There were two new people! I would be with one of them today: Meril.

She's great. I think we will be fast friends because she's really sweet and easy to talk to. And super quick to learn.

When I first got there I would go start setting up needles with Del. And he's very specific and so I did what I needed to do for my stuff. Though I did get a little confused when he insisted on 4 cutters when I would normally do 6 or 8. But that's fine. Except we didn't have enough pockets?? Whatever. We made it work.

Like I said I had three needles programs. No breaks. And they were good kids but it's hard for 3rd graders to sew. But they all got it by the end.

One of the issues today was that O'Malley was leading after only seeing the program once and Audrey was leading it for the second time. So we were struggling a little. Everyone did good but there was no consistency. It's all fine but man. It's hard to reach someone when you don't exactly know what to expect. Meril was great though and quick to pick it up.

Rosia would also shadow for the middle programs. Which wasn't the best. Mostly because I couldn't go get her and she got lost in the musuem. And I didn't get to give her a brief explanation so I think she was a little confused at times. But it was fine. Like we handled it and the sewing went well.

Though the kids were a little focused on tech. They were taking videos and pictures a lot. Which is fine but it was on iPads so it was a little distracting. And then a kid in the front row took a phone call during Del's intro and that was just. Wild to me. And then later a child was watching a movie?? How to train your dragon 2?? No teacher stepped in and it was just so strange.

But I still had fun. I got to work on my embroidery. I enjoyed working with the kids. I felt happy. I had to just focus on the work though because as soon as I didn't I realized I was hungry. I only had a little bit of pretzels for breakfast.

After the kids left me and Meril cleaned up and worked on cutting shapes and cleaning up the kids work. It was super fun. And it was just nice talking to her. She is coming from a different historical museum and it's just really neat. She's a year older than me and we have a lot in common. A new friend I hope!

I would go to the back once we cleaned up and ate the egg salad I had with me and started shaking. Didn't realize how low my blood sugar had gotten. James was back there too and it was nice to eat together. And then we would go to the desk and I had a nice long conversation with Jessica about me going to work at Puhtok full time.

She gave me things to think about. Mostly what she thinks I should ask money wise. And from my research she is right. And if I base it off my camp pay it's not to far off what I already make there. Scary to talk about money but I will have to do it. It will make our life so much better if I have solid and expected paychecks. Even if it scares me.

I would stay a little later then I planned because the photographer that has work at the museum, Joe, came by and it turns out he worked at Puhtok back in the day and so me, him, and James talked about that for a while. About the good and bad and the changes I'm trying to make.

But at 230 I had to go. I have things to do!! So I said goodbye to everyone and went out to the beautiful day.

I drove the half hour our to Reisterstown to get my background check. And I was prepared for this to take an hour or more. But there was boy two people in front of me so it was like. Stupid easy.

The woman in front of me had a preschooler with her who became my best friend. We were making faces at each other and then she told me all about her pet hermit crab. Love little kids.

I got my fingers printed and was done in less then a half hour. So I decided I would go to the little goodwill to look around. The woman at the register was so sweet. We had some nice little laughs. And I found a very silly chrismas dress I couldn't pass up even if it's February. I will save it for next Christmas.

I also almost got a purse but I know I don't need another purse. So I said no to myself even if it was hard!!

I was planning on driving home after that. I texted Jess about how stupid busy today was. And she asked if I had gotten out pottery yet. I had completely forgotten. So I checked the GPS and I was 10 minutes form amazing glaze so I went there.

And our pottery was perfect. I think they both came out so stinking cute. I'm thrilled. My flowers and my worms are visible! I am super pleased. And Jess's pears are so nice. The woman there was super nice and said our pottery was super cool.

I went home next. Talked to my neighbors downstairs about the weather. And when I got upstairs James was basically right behind me. They said we should go for a walk. We open all the windows first. And I changed my shoes and James changed their shirt. And we went out.

We walked around the block. Took some pictures near the pretty flower trees. I love the flowering trees. Though it is still to early. Climate change.

We came back home and James made soup for themselves and pasta for me. And I basically stayed chilling on the couch all evening. James had their podcast but they had a guest in a central time zone so they would be recording until 9. But it was a nice evening. I went and took a bath. And James seemed to have had fun doing the podcast.

I just finished my foot mask. And James keeps laughing at me because I said I had wet plastic bags on my feet. But that's what it felt like!! And James rubbed the serum in for me because they are the best.

Now it is time for bed. I have two programs and a scavenger hunt tomorrow. I think it will be a good day. Fingers crossed. I hope you all sleep well tonight. Be safe!!

[ahtsumu]

college student!miya atsumu hc dump

pairing: gn!reader ; genre: so much fluff, headcanons/mini drabbles ; tag(s): fluff, slightly suggestive, just the underclassman years for now, based on the american college system ; wc: 1.2k

imagine college student!miya atsumu majoring in creative writing while being the starting setter on the university's NCAA D1 volleyball team. he read milk and honey by rupi kaur once and ever since then he’s been madly in love with hitting the “enter” key after typing three words and calling it poetry. his ultimate goal, however, is to play for team USA at the olympics though!

imagine college freshman!miya atsumu

longboarding across campus on the first day of class with his airpods in (now playing: rap caviar on spotify), ray-bans on, snapback over his head, and nearly falling over when he passes you on the way to your 9 am. when you stop to make sure he’s okay, his entire face goes red before he stammers out an “i’m fine, thanks” and speeds off in embarrassment, kicking himself the whole time for not even getting your name because when will he ever see you again?? but when he’s settled down in freshman seminar and looks up at the whiteboard, he sees you walk in from the corner of his eye.

spending the whole night studying the lasting effects of imperialism through the lens of feminist theory after being paired up with you for a group project. he’s sweating buckets as he walks into starbucks because he just knows you think he’s an idiot (especially after your disastrous first encounter), only to be pleasantly surprised when the first thing you say to him is, “finally gave up on the longboard?” with a cheeky grin

texting his twin osamu “pls help how do i get someone to like me”, receiving “lmao is this a joke”, then replying with “stfu i don’t wanna hu i wanna cuff”, then being spammed with wikihow links and a few articles from GQ–– none of which he thinks helps, by the way!

running into you at the nearby 7-eleven at 2 am as he stands in front of the chips (it’s cheat day and he’s studying for a midterm, c’mon), deliberating between the purple and red taki’s like it’s a matter of life and death. when you say “fuego is better” from behind, he spins around with his hand on his heart, eyes wide in shock before he grins and replies with “i didn’t take ya for a basic…” but grabs the purple bag anyway

studying under a shady tree in the quad and getting bored after finishing a couple assignments, so he texts you to see if you’re free to go over some details of your project together (you are), only to end up not getting any work done because suddenly, you’re playing an impromptu game of 20 questions and wow. he can’t stop thinking about you.

sending you excerpts of your readings with funny comments, usually just roasting the author or narrator for his inability to understand the text. the first time you send one back he’s in the locker room after practice and he grins so wide that when his teammates grab his phone and see that all you’ve sent is a screenshot followed by “this mf’s writing about pouring concrete as if it's a RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE LMFAO someone come get their man!!”, they’re like, atsumu… you good? but no, he’s not–– he’s into you to the point it hurts not to have you

inviting you to one of his games after class with his heart pounding so fast that it almost feels like he’s playing the game right now, but then you take the ticket from his hand and grin, promising that you’ll be there as a representative from the official miya atsumu fan-club. he thinks that he might just die on the spot from happiness, but then you ask if you should come with a poster of his face and that’s when he really thinks he might just combust

looking nervously for you in the stands during warmups just to make sure you’re there and playing so hard after he spots you that he breaks his personal best for service aces in one game. he actually turns around at one point in the game to look you in the eye, winking as if to say “this one’s for you.” (you blush and hope he didn’t see it. he did!)

raising up one eyebrow in class when you meet his gaze and mouthing “wanna get out of here?” just to get you flustered, except when you mouth back “sure, my dorm?” with the same mischief in your eyes, a bright red blush blooms over his cheeks–– and he suddenly finds it very hard to focus, the only thing on his mind being you and him… in your dorm…

finally asking you out to the fall ball (this year’s theme: masquerade!), showing up at your door in a black three-piece suit and white mask and thinking that there’s no way he’ll be able to work up the courage to make his move once he sees you dressed like that, except he does when he walks you back at the end of the night, kissing you right in front of your door with his heart about to leap out from his throat

imagine college sophomore!miya atsumu

in plaid sweats, hair fluffy from sleep, leaning against the kitchen counter with a bowl of lucky charms in his hands, murmuring a “mornin’ babe” with a soft smile when he sees you walk in

pulling you onto his lap on his sofa as he reads to you a poem he has to analyse for class–– “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” by e.e. cummings–– and when you ask him if he’s finally moved on from his weird obsession with enjambment, he laughs out an “as if!” and pulls up a poem he’s just written on his notes app

leaning over the court-side barriers before games for his ritual “good luck kiss” because ever since you started coming to his games in freshman year he’s only set personal record after personal record (even breaking the school record for service aces at one point)... even though his teammates and coaches all make fun of him for it

making out with you on his desk after you walk into his room in one of his team hoodies–– the one with his jersey on it–– his calloused hands running up and down your waist as he kisses you fervently because god, he can’t hold himself back when he sees you in something that claims you as his, even if he has a paper on 18th century french poetry due in two hours

tapping your shoulder as you file out of your 8 am class with a goofy grin and your coffee order in hand after you rushed out the door a few minutes late that morning (thanks to him and his stupid wandering hands)

driving you around campus on an athletic department golf cart after class because of his student athlete special privileges, giving out high-fives and aggressively shouting “hey! have a great day!” to the students and faculty you pass (all while cementing your reputation as the cutest couple on campus)

begging you to stay another night at his off-campus apartment even though you have your own dorm room because he sleeps better knowing that yes, you’re still there beside him and you haven’t left like so many other people in his life

inviting his parents to the NCAA volleyball finals. the second they see you in his jersey in the front row they rush over and hug you, introducing themselves and saying that they've heard so much about you from their little ‘tsumu that they could recognise you from anywhere. and when atsumu strides on the court with the rest of the team and sees you giggling with his parents, he thinks that he really could just marry you right then and there